Here we have three of the most famous Russian imposters. The first is unclear exactly who he was, but the widely accepted version is he was the son of a nobleman named Yuri Otrepyev. Yuri pretended to be Dimitri Ivanovich, the youngest son of Tsar Ivan IV (known as Ivan the Terrible) who was assassinated in 1591 at the age of 8. This False Dimitri was able to get enough followers and enough power that he was able to take the Russian throne, making him the only pretender to Reign. He reigned as Dimitri I from 1605-1606 before a revolt broke out in which he was killed in the Kremlin. The next pretender was Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack who pretended to be the assassinated Tsar Peter III. He led the famous Pugachev's Rebellion against Catherine the Great, gaining many followers with promises such as the end of serfdom. The rebellion lasted from 1773-1774. It ended with the capture of Pugachev and his execution in 1775. The last famous pretender was Anna Anderson who pretended to be Grand duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. For years many people believed that she was Anastasia, including some members of the Romanov family. Media put out many movies about Anastasia's survival because of her. In 1927, Alexandra's brother Ernest funded a private investigation that showed that Anna Anderson was in fact Franziska Schanzkowska a Polish factory worker. In 1991 after the bodies of Nicholas, Alexandra and 3 daughters were found, DNA evidence showed that Anna Anderson was in fact in no way related to the Romanovs. Anna Anderson died in 1985 of Pnemonia. Even today people still believe her story and in Anastasia's survival.
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