Yemelyan Pugachev
Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev () (c. 1742 – ) was a Russian Cossack who led a great popular insurrection during the reign of Catherine the Great, claiming to be her late husband, Emperor Peter III. Alexander Pushkin wrote a notable history of the rebellion, "The History of Pugachev", and he recounted some of the events in his novel "The Captain's Daughter" (1836).
Russian Enlightenment
Catherine greatly exaggerated Russia's economic stability and greatly misinformed Voltaire on the subject. For instance, Catherine in the correspondence never mentioned the Pugachev rebellion of 1773–74. When Voltaire brought up the subject, Catherine brushed it off by simply saying that she had it under control. As a result, Voltaire never realized the significant economic hardship of Russia's peasant class that had triggered the revolt.