Occupation of Mongolia

Occupation of Mongolia
Military occupation by the Republic of China
1919–1921
Capital		Niislel Khüree (now Ulaanbaatar)
Languages		Mongolian
Religion		Buddhism
Government		The Chinese hierarchya
History
•	Chinese troops occupy Urga	October 1919
•	Chinese troops defeatedb	1921
Preceded by Succeeded by Mongolia (1911–24) Mongolia (1911–24)
a.	Subsequently under Baron Ungern.
b.	By White Russian forces under Baron Ungern and, subsequently, by Mongolian People's Party and Russian Red Army forces.

The Occupation of Mongolia by the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China began in October 1919 and lasted until early 1921, when Chinese troops in Urga were routed by Baron Ungern's White Russian (Buryats, Russians etc.) and Mongolian forces. These, in turn, were defeated by the Red Army and its Mongolian allies by June 1921.

Although the Beiyang Government abolished the autonomy of the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia and subsequently expanded its occupation to include Tuva, it was not able to secure its claim over Mongolia.

Background

In December 1911, Outer Mongolia took advantage of the Xinhai Revolution to declare independence from the Qing dynasty. The political system of new Mongolia was an absolute theocratic monarchy led by Bogd Khan. However, the newly founded Republic of China considered Mongolia as part of its territory. In the 1915 tripartite Kyakhta Agreement, Russia (which had strategic interests in Mongolian independence but did not want to completely alienate China), the Republic of China and Mongolia agreed that Mongolia was autonomous under Chinese suzerainty. However, in the following years Russian influence in Asia waned due to the First World War and, later, the October Revolution. From 1918 on, Mongolia was threatened by the Russian Civil War, and in summer 1918 asked for Chinese military assistance, which lead to the deployment of a small force to Urga. Grigory Semyonov led the Buryats and Inner Mongols in spearheading a plan to create a pan-Mongol state. Meanwhile, some Mongolian aristocrats had become more and more dissatisfied with their marginalization at the hands of the theocratic Lamaist government, and, also provoked by the threat of the Outer Mongolia's independence from the pan-Mongolist movement of Grigory Semyonov in Siberia, by 1919 were ready to accept Chinese rule. According to an Associated Press dispatch, some Mongol chieftains signed a petition asking China to retake administration of Mongolia and end Outer Mongolia's autonomy. Since they opposed the Bogd Khan and his clerics, Mongol nobles agreed to abolishing Mongol autonomy and reuniting with China under an agreement with 63 stipulations signed with Cheng Yi in August–September 1919. The Buryat and Inner Mongol led pan-Mongolist initiative of Grigory Semyonov was rejected by the Khalkha Mongol nobles of Urga, so the Khalkha nobles instead assured the Chinese under Cheng Yi that they were against it. The prospect of ending Mongol autonomy and peeing up Niialel Khuree, Altanbulag, Uliyasutai, and Khovd to Chinese soldiers was permitted by the Mongol government in response to the Japanese backed Buryatia pan-Mongol movement.

An ally of the Chinese government, the Qinghai born Monguor Gelugpa Buddhist Lama leader Sixth Janggiya Khutughtu was against the autonomy of Outer Mongolia.

Causes

Duan Qirui

The invasion of Mongolia was the brainchild of Premier Duan Qirui. When Duan engineered China's entry into the First World War he took out several large loans from the Japanese government including the Nishihara Loans. He used the money to create the War Participation Army ostensibly to battle the Central Powers. His rivals knew the purpose of this army was to crush internal dissent. It existed outside of the Ministry of the Army and was controlled by the War Participation Bureau, which the premier led and which was staffed entirely by his Anhui clique. President Feng Guozhang, Duan's rival, had no control, despite constitutionally being commander-in-chief. When the war ended without a soldier stepping foot abroad, his critics demanded the disbanding of the War Participation Army. Duan had to find a new purpose for his army. Mongolia was chosen for several reasons:

• Duan's envoys to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference were unable to prevent the German concession Shandong being transferred to Japan thereby causing the Chinese nationalist May Fourth Movement to target his policies. His reputation as a patriot was discredited. Reintegrating Mongolia would reverse that.
• The Constitutional Protection War was fought to a bloody standstill in Hunan. Using his army for another risky attempt to retake southern China from the rebels was undesirable.
• The Russian Civil War left Mongolia without a foreign protector. An easy victory would boost Duan's stature.
• Mongolia's long running prime minister, Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren, died in April 1919 leaving the country's ruling elite deeply divided over a successor. Some of Mongolia's princes, as well as its Han Chinese, sought reunification.

Invasion

Xu Shuzheng

Roman Ungern von Sternberg

The pro-Japanese Anhui clique leader Xu Shuzheng led the military occupation of Mongolia in violation of Chen Yi's agreement signed with the Mongol nobles because he wanted to use Mongolia as his own fief. Anhui clique was also known as Anfu group. The Anfu Club was bribed by Japan to implement in Mongolia the strategies of Japan.

The War Participation Army was renamed the Northwestern Frontier Army. Duan gave control of it to his right-hand, Xu Shuzheng, member of the Pro Japanese Anhui Clique in the Chinese government. They announced the expedition was at the invitation of several Mongolian princes to protect Mongolia from Bolshevik incursions. It was supposed to begin in July 1919, but the train broke down. In October, Xu led a spearhead group of 4,000 that quickly captured Urga without resistance. Another 10,000 troops followed to occupy the rest of the country. The successful invasion was met with acclaim throughout China, even by Sun Yat-sen's rival southern government although Sun's telegram could be interpreted sarcastically. The Japanese were the ones who ordered the pro Japanese Chinese warlords to occupy Mongolia in order to halt a possibly revolutionary spillover from the Russian revolutionaries into Mongolia and Northern China. After the Chinese completed the occupation, the Japanese then abandoned them and left them on their own. Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren said that "I can defend Mongolia from China and Red Russia".

In 1919 the Mongolian council of Khans were addressed by Xu Shuzheng in a speech which was condescending. In February 1920, Xu presided over a very humiliating ceremony in which Bogd Khan and other leaders were forced to kowtow before him and the Five Races Under One Union flag. This event marked the beginning of active resistance against Chinese rule which coalesced into the Mongolian People's Party.

Domestic politics in China soon changed the situation dramatically. The invasion had caused alarm for Zhang Zuolin, the powerful warlord of Manchuria, who was upset that such a large army was moved so close to his territory. He joined the chorus of critics such as Cao Kun and Wu Peifu calling for the removal of the Anhui clique. In July, they forced President Xu Shichang to remove Xu Shuzheng from his position. In response, Xu Shuzheng moved the bulk of his forces to confront his enemies in China. Both he and Duan Qirui were defeated in the ensuing Zhili-Anhui War. This left only a few Chinese troops in Mongolia without their leadership.

Many of the Chinese troops during the occupation were Tsahar (Chahar) Mongols from Inner Mongolia, which has been a major cause for animosity between Outer Mongols (Khalkhas) and Inner Mongols.

The Tusiyetu Khan Aimak's Prince Darchin Ch'in Wang was a supporter of Chinese rule while his younger brother Tsewang was a supporter of Ungern-Sternberg.

The Chinese sent a honghuzi led band of Chahar Inner Mongols to fight against the Outer Mongols but the Tushegoun Lama killed them. Both the Chinese army and Baron Ungern von Sternberg's force contained Chahar Inner Mongol soldiers, who participating in kidnapping local Outer Mongol women in addition to looting and mutilating the Outer Mongols. The plundering Inner Mongol Chahars were recruited by the Chinese High Commissioner Wu Tsin Lao with the deliberate knowledge that they would engage in looting. Deserters, including Russians, from Ungern's forces were brutally punished, killed, or tortured by the Chahar Inner Mongols in Ungern-Sternberg's army. The Soviet Red Army crushed the Chahar Mongol unit of Ungern Sternberg's forces.

In October, the White Russian Baron R.F. von Ungern-Sternberg swept into Mongolia from the north and fought many battles with the Chinese garrison stationed in Urga before capturing it on February 1921 There he defeated the Chinese forces and restored Bogd Khan as a monarch. At around the same time, the MPP engaged in its first battle against Chinese troops. "After the defeat of the Chinese army, two thousand Chinese petitioned the Living Buddha to enlist in his legions. They were accepted and formed into two regiments, wearing as insignia the old Chinese silver dragons."

The reconquest of Outer Mongolia was assigned to Zhang Zuolin. A joint MPP-Red Army expedition led by Soviet Red commanders and Damdin Sükhbaatar defeated the Baron in August. The Soviet forces against Ungern-Sternberg were led by Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. Tensions leading up to the First Zhili-Fengtian War and the apparent victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War led to the end of China's involvement. Reincarnations, Abbots, and Lamas were imprisoned or executed by the Soviets. China rejected the Soviet intervention.

The Transbaikalia Cossack Ataman was Semyonov. A Mongol-Buryat republic was declared in January 1919 by Semyonov. A "Buryat National Department" was created by Semyonov and the Buryat elite like intelligentsia, lamas, and noyons were summoned by the Semyonov and the Japanese in February 1919. The aim was to unite Buryatia, Tuva, Outer Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia into one Mongol state, discussed at the February 1919 Chita "Pan-Mongol" congress led by the Japanse and Semyonov's Transbaikal Buryats. A "Provisional Government" was set up after the February 1919 meeting. Russian officered Chahars and Honghuzi served in Semyonov 's army. Chahars made up a division. There were Chahars, Tungus, Buryats, Tatars, Bashkirs, and others in the army. The Chahar Inner Mongols numbered around 2,000 and were placed in the "Wild Division" of OMO led by General Levitskii. The White Army cavalry of Semyonov drafted 1,800 Buryats while Buryats were also recruited by the Bolsheviks. In Trans-Baikalia Semyonov was joined by Kappel who commanded Aleksandr Vasil'evich Kolchak's rearguard. Semyonov and Kolchak were allied. From 1916-1919 the Buryats were subjected to Japanese propaganda. The Paris Peace Conference was attended by representatives from the "Dauria Government" of the pan-Mongol intitiative established in February 1919 by Semyonov. Since the Versatile Peace Conference of 1919 did not recognize the Daurija government of Semyonov, the Japanese withdrew their support from Semyonov. A machine gunning of 350 captives from a train was arranged on August 1919 by Semyonov to satisfy his appetite for murder. At Chita a meeting between an American captain and Semyonov was cancelled in December 1919.

Fushenge led the Bargut and Karachen (Karachin) Mongol soldiers and entrusted the training of them to Ungern. The Pan Mongolist Inner Mongolian Prince Fushenge was participating in the Pan-Mongol conference with Ungern when they sent representatives to Versailles, but Ungern developed a distate for the idea of the pan-Mongol state, and no Outer Mongol bothered to attend the conference- the Bogd Khan rejected the idea of a pan-Mongol state, since he did not want to lose his power to the Japanese and Semenov and did not want to provoke China so he rejected a delegation from Dauria which Fushenge participated in. Ungern's Russian officers in Dauria were trilling the Inner Mongol soldiers of Fushenge and Buriat soldiers, but hostility was developing between the Inner Mongols and Buriats. After being assigned to attack Urga, Mongol soldiers of General Fussenge refused to participate and in response the Japanese and OMO massacred them all.

Results

Main article: Mongolian Revolution of 1921

This was the last foreign occupation in Mongolian history. A communism-orientated state such as Mongolia was unexpected in orthodox Marxism, and would probably not have happened if there were no occupation. After a brief period of constitutional monarchy, the Mongolian People's Republic was established in 1924 which would last until 1992.

The Chinese Army and Soviet Red Army defeated the rest of the White Russians like Kazagrandi and Suharev as they fled and abandoned Ungern. The Chinese army on June 1921 defeated a 350 strong White Russian unit led by Colonel Kazagrandi, most of them died in battle while 42 became prisoners.

It was proposed that Zhang Zuoling's domain (the Chinese "Three Eastern Provinces") take Outer Mongolia under its administration by the Bogda Khan and Bodo in 1922 after pro-Soviet Mongolian Communists seized control of Outer Mongolia.

For China, the occupation indirectly led to the permanent breakup of the Beiyang Army and the fall of strongman Duan Qirui. This marked the period of high warlordism as the former officers of Yuan Shikai battled each other for many years to come. Many White Russian guerrillas became mercenaries in China after the occupation. Along with the Siberian Intervention, it was the only foreign military expedition carried out by the Beiyang government. In 2002, however, the Republic of China, which now controls only Taiwan and surrounding islands, announced that it was administratively recognizing Mongolia as an independent country, excluding Mongolia from the official maps of the Republic of China and requiring Mongolian citizens visiting Taiwan to produce passports. Informal relations were established between Mongolia and Taiwan via trade offices in Ulan Bator and Taipei, albeit without formal diplomatic recognition due to the One-China policy, as Mongolia recognizes the People's Republic of China. No legislative actions were taken to address concerns over the Republic of China's constitutional claims to Mongolia, as amending the Constitution of the Republic of China is a politically sensitive issue because of the political status of Taiwan.

Buryats served in Ungern Sternberg's army since Russians abused the Buryats and Stalin was furious over this. During Stalin's persecutions, Mongolia became a refuge for fleeing Buryats. The Soviets used tactics to divided the Mongols away from the Tuvans and Buryats. Soviet media launched an anti-Buddhist campaign in Buryatia. Mongol nationalism in Transbaikalia and Buryatia was equated with Grigorii Semenov by the Mongolian Communists and Soviets. The Soviets faced opposition in their anti-religious campaign from Buryat clerics. The Buryat-Mongolia Communist Party First Secretary Verbanov was executed in Stalin's purge. A Russian President now rules Buryatia and Russians make up the majority of Buryatia's population, after massive Buryat deaths during Russian rule and the settlement of Buryatia by Russians.

See also

• Mongolia (1911–24)
• State of Buryat-Mongolia
• Mongolian Revolution of 1921

References

Sources

• Warlord Politics in China: 1916-1918, Hsi-sheng Chi, 1976.