Editing Catherine the Great (section)

==== Attitudes towards Catherine ====
[[File:An Imperial stride! (BM 1868,0808.6035).jpg|thumb|A [[satire]] on Catherine's morals and on the [[#Russo-Turkish Wars|Russo-Turkish war]], from 1791]]
The attitude of the serfs toward their autocrat had historically been a positive one.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Field|first1=Daniel|title=Rebels in the Name of the Tsar|date=1976|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-395-21986-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNhoAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>
However, if the empress' policies were too extreme or too disliked, she was not considered the true empress. In these cases, it was necessary to replace this "fake" empress with the "true" empress, whoever she may be. Because the serfs had no political power, they rioted to convey their message. However, usually, if the serfs did not like the policies of the empress, they saw the nobles as corrupt and evil, preventing the people of Russia from communicating with the well-intentioned empress and misinterpreting her decrees.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mamonova|first1=Natalia|title=Naive Monarchism and Rural Resistance In Contemporary Russia|journal=Rural Sociology|volume=81|issue=3|date=2016|pages=316–342|doi=10.1111/ruso.12097|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297408651|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref> However, they were already suspicious of Catherine upon her accession because she had annulled an act by Peter III that essentially freed the serfs belonging to the Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Raeff|1972b|p=170}} Naturally, the serfs did not like it when Catherine tried to take away their right to petition her because they felt as though she had severed their connection to the autocrat, and their power to appeal to her. Far away from the capital, they were confused as to the circumstances of her accession to the throne.<ref>{{harvnb|Madariaga|1981|pp=239–255}}</ref>

The peasants were discontented because of many other factors as well, including crop failure, and epidemics, especially a major [[Plague Riot|epidemic in 1771]]. The nobles were imposing a stricter rule than ever, reducing the land of each serf and restricting their freedoms further beginning around 1767.{{sfn|Raeff|1972b|pp=166–169}} Their discontent led to widespread outbreaks of violence and rioting during [[Pugachev's Rebellion]] of 1774. The serfs probably followed someone who was pretending to be the true empress because of their feelings of disconnection to Catherine and her policies empowering the nobles, but this was not the first time they followed a pretender under Catherine's reign.{{sfn|Raeff|1972b|p=171}}

Pugachev had made stories about himself acting as a real emperor should, helping the common people, listening to their problems, praying for them, and generally acting saintly, and this helped rally the peasants and serfs, with their very conservative values, to his cause.{{sfn|Raeff|1972b|pp=171–172}} With all this discontent in mind, Catherine did rule for 10 years before the anger of the serfs boiled over into a rebellion as extensive as Pugachev's. The rebellion ultimately failed and in fact backfired as Catherine was pushed away from the idea of serf liberation following the violent uprising. Under Catherine's rule, despite her enlightened ideals, the serfs were generally unhappy and discontented.