Empire · since 1911 · East Asia

Mongolia (Bogd Khanate and Mongolian People's Republic)

Also known as Mongolia

When the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911, Mongol princes in Urga declared independence and made the Buddhist leader Jebtsundamba Khutuktu their ruler, the Bogd Khan. Chinese troops reoccupied the country in 1919, but in February 1921 the White Russian warlord Baron Ungern-Sternberg drove them from Urga, and Mongolian revolutionaries led by Damdin Sükhbaatar, aided by the Soviet Red Army, then expelled him and entered Urga in July.

After the Bogd Khan died, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared in 1924, the world's second communist state. Under Khorloogiin Choibalsan, purges in the late 1930s killed tens of thousands of people, including many Buddhist monks, and most monasteries were destroyed. Mongolia remained a close Soviet ally, and China recognised its independence in 1946. Peaceful protests in 1990 brought multiparty democracy and a market economy.

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Years

since 1911

Capital

Urga, renamed Ulaanbaatar in 1924

Greatest extent

1924, about 1.56 million km²

Region

East Asia

c. 1.56M km²; Outer Mongolia, roughly its present borders