MongoliaModern Mongolia, 1911-84
Period of Autonomy, 1911-21
With the end of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the
Republic of China in 1911, revolutionary ferment also emerged in
Mongolia. As early as July 1911, participants in an anti-Chinese
meeting in
Yihe Huree (see Glossary)
had petitioned the Russian
government--which long had sought the independence of Outer
Mongolia--for help against China. On December 1, 1911, Outer
Mongolia in effect proclaimed its independence on the basis that
its allegiance had been to the Manchus, not to China. On December
28, the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu became Bogdo Khan (holy
ruler) of an autonomous theocratic government; a 20,000-troop
army was created; and Russian officers appeared in Yihe Huree
(renamed Niyslel--capital--Huree, or Urga) to equip, to organize,
and to train the army. The new Chinese government refused to
recognize Mongolian independence, but it was too preoccupied with
internal discord to enforce its sovereignty.
The Bogdo Khan's palace, now a museum, Ulaanbaatar
Courtesy Allen H. Kassof
Meanwhile, Russia was moving rapidly to take advantage of the
situation. On November 3 and December 19, 1912, respectively,
Mongolian-Russian and Mongolian-Tibetan agreements were signed in
Niyslel Huree. The latter agreement granted mutual recognition of
independence; the former only affirmed Mongolia's autonomy from
China. The Russian agreement and a protocol to it created a
tsarist protectorate over Outer Mongolia. The Japanese, too,
sought, unsuccessfully, to influence the independence movement in
1911 and 1912 with contributions of arms and money. Following the
mobilization of a Mongol army to liberate Inner Mongolia, several
other agreements affecting Mongolia were reached. In November 5,
1913, agreement, Russia recognized Chinese suzerainty over
Mongolia, and China recognized Outer Mongolia's right to selfrule and to the control of its own commerce and industry. China
also agreed not to send troops into Mongolia. On May 25, 1915, a
second, tripartite agreement (among China, Mongolia, and Russia),
the Treaty of Kyakhta, formalized Mongolian autonomy. Russia's
involvement in World War I, however, reduced the attention that
the tsar's government could pay to Mongolia. This neglect, which
occurred at the same time as new monarchical machinations in
China, rekindled Japanese interest in, and aid to, anti-Chinese
forces in Mongolia and neighboring Manchuria.
After revolution broke out in Russia in November 1917, Japan
moved to aid anti-Bolshevik forces in Mongolia, and a Japanesefostered pan-Mongol movement was established under the influence
of the Buryat Mongols. A pan-Mongolia conference was held in
February and March 1919 in Chita, Siberia. The participants
decided to establish a Mongol state, comprising Outer Mongolia,
Inner Mongolia, and Buryatia (present-day Buryatskaya Autonomous
Soviet Socialist Republic) and to send letters to the Versailles
Peace Conference that ended World War I. Despite formation of a
small provisional government--in which Outer Mongolia refused to
participate--and promises of Japanese aid, the movement failed in
the face of renewed Chinese efforts to regain control over all of
Mongolia. In October 1919, a Chinese warlord army, emboldened by
the demise of the tsarist regime, occupied Niyslel Huree and
received an acknowledgment of Chinese sovereignty from the Bogdo
Khan government. The Mongol army was disarmed and disbanded.
Soon, however, the effects of the upheaval in Russia began to
reach Mongolia. In October 1920, Russian White Guard troops under
Baron Roman Nicolaus von Ungern-Sternberg invaded from Siberia.
In February 1921, after a fierce battle, Von Ungern-Sternberg
drove the Chinese out of Niyslel Huree and occupied the city. At
first the White Guards were hailed as liberators by Mongolian
monarchists, but in the next several months Von UngernSternberg 's reign of terror and destruction aroused popular
opposition.
The threatening actions of Chinese, Japanese, and White
Russian forces greatly stimulated Mongolian nationalism during
this time. Two secret revolutionary circles emerged in Niyslel
Huree in 1919, the military-oriented Dzuun (East) Huree Group,
under Damdiny Sukhe Bator and Horloogiyn Dandzan, and the
civilian-oriented Consul's Group, headed by Horloyn Choybalsan
and Dogsomyn Bodoo. The
Communist International (see Glossary),
also called the Comintern, which was headquartered in Moscow,
advised the two groups to merge in order to present a united
front to the Chinese and the White Russian occupation forces. The
merger was accomplished at a conference in Irkutsk in March 1920,
with the formation of the Mongolian People's Party under the
leadership of Sukhe Bator. The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu gave his
encouragement and support to the revolutionary leaders, and in
his name they appealed to Moscow for more assistance.
Monument to Sukhe Bator, Ulaanbaatar
Courtesy Allen H. Kassof
The Japanese were pressing ahead with efforts to take
advantage of the chaos caused by the Russian civil war. A large
Japanese force, nominally part of an anti-Bolshevik Allied
Expeditionary Force intervening in eastern Siberia, had taken
over much of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Vladivostok and
Lake Baykal. Japanese funds were provided to von Ungern-Sternberg
and other White Russian elements, in order to prevent the Soviet
government from establishing control in eastern Siberia and from
obtaining too much influence in Mongolia. The Japanese efforts
were thwarted to a large degree, however, by the neutralist
attitude of United States elements of the Allied Expeditionary
Force, and Soviet forces gradually established control over
Siberia.
The improved Soviet position in Siberia enabled Moscow to
respond to the appeals of the Mongolian nationalists. Earlier, in
the 1918 to 1919 period, Moscow had renounced all agreements
regarding Mongolia that had been reached with Japan and China.
The First Party Congress of the newly formed Mongolian People's
Party, was held at Kyakhta (in Siberia, near the Mongolian
border) on March 1 to 3, 1921. On March 13, the new party Central
Committee formed the Mongolian People's Provisional Government,
and, after Sukhe Bator's Mongolian Partisan Army (established in
February 1921) captured the Mongolian city of Khiagt (across the
border from Kyakhta), a new capital was established. A MongolianSoviet military force also had been formed, and by early July it
had driven von Ungern-Sternberg's forces out of Niyslel Huree and
had occupied the city. On July 11--the date recognized as
Mongolia's national day--the Bogdo Khan government was replaced
by a new People's Government of Mongolia, a limited monarchy
nominally headed by the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu under the title of
khan. Bodoo was named premier and foreign minister; Sukhe Bator
continued as commander in chief and became minister of war, with
Choybalsan as his deputy. The government was bolstered by Soviet
troops, who virtually occupied the country
(see Historical Traditions
, ch. 5).
Data as of June 1989
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