Soviet Mongolia and Its Truths

Soviet Mongolia… In other words, Communist Mongolia… Although this name may sound strange to anyone who knows a little about the history of the Mongols, Mongolia was ruled by communism as a satellite state of the Soviet Union between 1921–1992. In fact, Mongolia, which was not even considered a fully independent country between these years, was able to gain its independence only in 1992 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Let’s examine in more detail how the Mongols, who once brought the whole world to its knees, were governed by communism…

While the Mongols had been ruled by the Qing Dynasty since 1758, they took the opportunity of the revolution that started in China in 1911 and took action for independence. In December 1911, the Mongols led by Bogd Khan declared their independence after defeating the Qing dynasty army at Ulan Bator. Afterwards, Bogd Khan went to the Russian Empire and wanted their independence to be recognized, but the Emperor Nicholas II, who had close relations with China, responded negatively to this offer. Meanwhile, the Chinese revolution was successful, the 2000-year empire ended and the Republic of China was established in its place. Mongolia, which was not recognized by any country until the start of the First World War, began to collapse economically day by day. Bogd Khan, who could not stand by any longer, knocked on the door of the Republic of China in 1915. With the agreement signed between Russia, China and Mongolia on this date, Mongolia was given the status of autonomy on the condition that it is subject to China in foreign policy. However, the Mongols could only enjoy being autonomous for 4 years. Using the civil war in Russia as an excuse, the Chinese army invaded Mongolia again in 1919 and regained the country’s autonomy. Although Bogd Khan asked for help from Japan and America to regain Mongolia’s independence, these attempts were inconclusive. Roman Sternberg, nicknamed the MAD BARON, was a German general who fought against the Bolsheviks during this period, and learned that Bogd Khan was asking for help in independence. After the two leaders agreed to fight together against China, Mad Baron left the White Army and entered Mongolia with his army in late 1920. The Mad Baron besieged the capital Ulan Bator and attacked several times to take the city, but had to retreat with heavy losses. Reinforcing his forces and attacking the capital again in February 1921, the Baron succeeded in pulling the Chinese forces out of Mongolia after the bloody war. The Mad Baron, who saw himself as the representative of Genghis Khan, declared both the independence of Mongolia and his sovereignty on March 13, 1921. The Mongolian people, who survived the persecution of China, soon faced the cruel rule of the Mad Baron, this time. In this oppressive regime environment, Danzan and Bodoo founded the Mongolian People’s Party and launched a strong movement targeting Mongolia’s independence. While the revolutionary Mongolian forces, assisted by the Bolsheviks, began to clash with the Mad Baron forces, the revolutionaries soon asked for help from the red army. The Mad Baron realized that he could not hold on to the capital as the Red Army troops began to enter Mongolia, and his army was thus forced to retreat from Ulan Bator.

On 21 July 1921, when Mongolia once again declared its independence, the Mad Baron was captured by the Red Army and executed. As a result of this event, which went down in history as the Mongolian revolution, the administration of the country was completely taken over by the Mongolian people’s party, and the head of the state was bogd khan, although it was symbolic. Bogd Khan died on November 26, 1924, after being the leader of Mongolia for about 3 years. After the death of Bogd Khan, the Mongolian people’s republic was established under the leadership of Ochiryn Dambadorj, and now it has become a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

In this period, Mongolia’s economy was underdeveloped and completely based on animal husbandry, agriculture and industry were almost non-existent in the country. Banking services and trade were almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese or other foreigners. Due to years of wars, the level of education and training was very low, and transportation and communication were still primitive. Although Dambadorj tried to develop his country until 1928, he could not make any progress. The biggest reason for this was the deterioration of relations with the Soviet Union after China. When Dambadorj came to power, although his views were communist-based, he later changed his mind and started to act like a right-wing person. This was met with a reaction from his party and the Soviet Union. He was overthrown by Stalin’s order in 1928 and was replaced by Ölziitiin Badrakh. During the Bardakh period, Mongolia began to follow a policy towards the Soviet Union again, while Josef Stalin began to have a say on Mongolia day by day. When the dates showed 1932, despite the 4 years that passed, there was no progress in the economy of Mongolia, and its population had fallen below 1 million. The reason for this was that almost half of the male population in the country lived in monasteries and did not favor marriage. Joseph Stalin, who attributed the almost non-existence of agriculture in the country to the scarcity of the male population, said that this situation should change, and demanded that religion be banned in the country and that all agricultural lands in the country be transformed into a collective structure as in the Soviet Union. While these two requests caused uprisings against the Soviets in Western and Southern Mongolia, Stalin, who sent the red army to Mongolia, ordered the suppression of the rebellion. While the rebel areas bombed by both the Red Army and the Soviet Air Forces faced hunger, the rebellion was suppressed in a period of 1 month. Although the Mongolian leader Peljidiin Genden, who was accused of deliberately not suppressing the uprising, was dismissed from the government in 1932, he returned to his post after a while due to his relations with Stalin. However, the Japanese agreement with Genden to deploy troops in Mongolia, which had been occupying China’s Manchuria region since 1930, was the tipping point for Stalin. While Stalin, acting before the Japanese, sent the Red Army to Mongolia, Genden was overthrown and executed in 1937 during the Great Purge.

Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan, who was loyal to Stalin, was brought to the seat of power vacated from Genden. In early 1939, Mongolian and Soviet troops waged war against the Japanese, who wanted to dominate the Inner Mongolia region. As a result of this war that lasted for 4 months, Mongolian and Soviet troops won, and this defeat was a great lesson for the Japanese on the eve of the Second World War. Therefore, after the start of World War II, a non-aggression agreement was signed between the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo and Mongolia on July 18, 1940. Then, Mongolia was included in the Soviet-Japanese non-aggression agreement signed on April 13, 1941, due to its geographical location. While Mongolia recruited about 10% of its male population during World War II, more than 1,000 Mongolian soldiers fought on the eastern front of the Soviet Union. The Mongolian force of about 10 thousand people took part in the red army, which began to occupy Manchuria in August 1945. In fact, on August 10, 1945, the Mongolian parliament even issued an Official Declaration of War against Japan. The Mongolian government, which felt safe thanks to its good relations with Moscow, started its attempts to develop the country after the Second World War. Mongolia was one of the most isolated countries in the world at that time and had almost no contact with countries outside the Soviet Union. Changing this policy of Mongolia, Prime Minister Choibalsan began to establish diplomatic relations with North Korea and Communist states in Eastern Europe. Then, in 1949, the newly established People’s Republic of China and the Mongolian People’s Republic signed an agreement and recognized each other, and the PRC gave up all its rights over Mongolia.

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal took the throne when Choibalsan died in Moscow, where he went for cancer treatment, in 1952. While relations between the Mongolian People’s Republic and the PRC improved significantly in the 1950s, all industrial facilities and residential constructions in Ulan Bator were made by Chinese companies. During this period, remarkable progress was made in areas such as animal husbandry, agriculture and industry. The population of the country, which was less than 1 million in the 1930s, exceeded 2 million in the 1960s, and the literacy rate, which was 10% in the 1930s, rose to 70%. In 1961, with the permission of China, Mongolia was accepted as a member of the United Nations. While everything started to go well for Mongolia, Mongolia suffered the most when relations between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China broke down in 1962. Chinese leader Mao Zedong began to pressure the Mongolian government to break with the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Khrushchev wanted Tsedenbal to cut off all relations with China. Tsedenbal, the Mongolian leader who was torn between the two states, ended all diplomatic relations with China by using his choice in favor of Moscow. Thereupon, tens of thousands of Chinese workers and thousands of Chinese companies working in Mongolia had to leave the country. Although Mongolia faltered for a while after the Sino-Soviet resentment began, it took a sharply pro-Soviet stance. Thereupon, China saw Mongolia as a threat. As military mobility became increasingly dangerous, the Mongolian government asked the Soviet Union to deploy its military forces in Mongolia in 1965. With the positive response of the Soviet leader Brezhnev to this request, the Red Army was deployed on the Mongolia-Chinese border in February 1967. Due to the presence of Soviet nuclear weapons, Mongolia became the center of the conflict between the Soviet Union and China until the 1980s.

As government leader Tsedenbal became increasingly authoritarian in the early 1980s, he was dismissed in 1984 on the pretext of “old age and mental incapacity”. Meanwhile, with Gorbachev’s coming to power in the Soviet Union, Jambyn Batmönkh, known for his closeness to Gorbachev, was brought to the Mongolian government. After Gorbachev implemented his famous policies of transparency and the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in late 1989, the Democratic Revolution took place in Mongolia. The Mongolian people’s party loosened its control over the political system, the constitution was amended, opposition parties were legalized, and a multi-party system was introduced. However, in the first multi-party elections held in Mongolia on July 29, 1990, the Mongolian people’s party once again won with 85% of the vote.

With Gorbachev’s resignation and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992, the Russian army withdrew from Mongolia. Thus, Mongolia, which was a satellite state of the Soviet Union for about 70 years, gained its full independence.