The Mongolian Revolution of 1911 occurred when the region of Outer Mongolia declared its independence from the Manchu-led Qing China during the Xinhai Revolution. A combination of factors, including economic hardship and failure to resist Western imperialism, led many in China to be unhappy with the Qing government. When a new program to settle Mongolia with ethnic Han and assimilate the natives was unveiled, it was met with resistance that resulted in Mongol independence from the Qing Empire. Many Barga and Inner Mongolian chieftains assisted in the revolution and became the revolution's leaders.
Background
In the early 20th century, Mongolia was impoverished. Repercussions from the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) were primarily responsible. Loss of tax revenue from South China during the rebellion and expenses for its suppression had depleted the Qing treasury. Silver, rather than livestock as was the custom, became the primary medium for paying taxes.Sh. Natsagdorj, Manjiin erkhsheeld baisan üyeiin Khalkhyn khurangui tüükh (1691–1911) [The history of Khalka under the Manchus], (Ulan Bator, 1963, p. 173. The major source of silver for Mongols was loans from Han merchants. These loans, at crippling interest rates, were repaid in livestock, which was then exported to China proper. The result was a catastrophic decline in the size of the herds upon which the livelihood of Mongolians depended.<ref>A.P. Bennigsen, while traveling through Mongolia in 1909 to 1911, was told by Mongolians that their herds had decreased ten-fold during the past decade. Neskol'ko dannykh o sovremmenoi Mongolii [Some information on modern Mongolia], (St. Petersburg, 1912), p. 57. This is supported by the archives of the ecclesiastical administration of the Jebzundamba Hutuhtu (Ikh Shav'''), which recorded a decline in the number of livestock from a million in 1861 to around 12,000 in 1909. D. Tsedev, Ikh shav' [Ecclesiastical administration], (Ulan Bator, 1964), p. 91.</ref>
A disintegrating economy, growing debt, and increasing tax demands were ingredients of social and political unrest in Mongolia. However, it was Qing plans for the transformation of Outer Mongolia that produced the impetus for rebellion.
Qing reforms in Mongolia The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro in what is today Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). They were certainly not the first non-Han people to rule all of China, but the fate of previous dynasties had always been the same: they invaded; they governed; they assimilated; and eventually they merged, more or less becoming Chinese themselves. Attempts were made to keep the Manchu strain ethnically pure, although these efforts proved fruitless. The early Qing rulers enacted various laws to isolate Manchuria from China proper (Eighteen Provinces) and Mongolia. They did the same for the Mongols: Han Chinese were prohibited from entering Mongolia and Mongols were not allowed to travel outside their own leagues. Mongols were forbidden from speaking Chinese languages or intermarrying with the Han Chinese. While over time enforcement waned, the laws still remained on the books, receiving at least token observance.
Western imperialism in China during the latter part of the 19th century changed political priorities in China. The Qing defeat by the Japanese in 1895 (First Sino-Japanese War), followed shortly afterwards by the German seizure of Shandong and the "scramble for concessions" that followed dramatically proved the inadequacy of previous Qing efforts to resist the West. The Boxer Rebellion, and particularly Japan's victory over Russia in 1905, were widely interpreted in China as the triumph of constitutionalism over autocracy. It was then that far-reaching economic, political, and military reforms, known as the "New Administration" or "New Policies" (Xin zheng), were ordered.
In Outer Mongolia, however, the New Administration was implemented rather differently. The aim was not simply modernization, as it was in Han Chinese territories, but cultural assimilation. Russia's occupation of the Liaodong Peninsula in 1898 and then of Northern Manchuria in 1900 confirmed the Qing government's fears of a larger Russian design on the entire northern frontier of their empire. Qing rulers came to believe that the continued survival of their state as an integral entity depended on the effectiveness of their frontier serving as a protective "shield" (in the language of the time) for China proper. To accomplish this, the peoples inhabiting this region would have to become Chinese.
Between 1901 and 1910, therefore, the Qing government inaugurated an expansive plan for Chinese colonization of the frontier and reorganization of its native governments (though the colonization of lands in Inner Mongolia by the Chinese had started much earlier). A decree in 1910 abrogating the old prohibitions against Chinese settling in Outer Mongolia, Chinese and Mongols intermarrying, and Mongols using the Chinese language was the final step toward dismantling the wall of isolation that the Manchus themselves had erected centuries earlier.Thomas E. Ewing, Revolution on the Chinese Frontier: Outer Mongolia in 1911, Journal of Asian History, v. 12, p. 104 (1978). See also Thomas E. Ewing, Ch'ing Policies in Outer Mongolia 1900–1911, Modern Asian Studies, v. 14 (1980).
In early 1910, the Qing government appointed Sando (or Sandowa), a Mongol himself and former deputy lieutenant governor of Guihwa, as viceroy of Mongolia in the capital city of Urga (modern Ulaanbaatar), to implement the New Administration. He immediately set about organizing twenty offices to oversee such matters as the military, taxation, police, government and commerce. Plans were made for the colonization of Mongolia with Chinese farmers. In January 1911 a Lieutenant Colonel Tang Zaili arrived to supervise the organization of a Mongolian army, half of which was to consist of Mongolian herdsmen. A 400-room barracks was erected near Urga. The Mongolians saw in all this a threat to their very survival. Their desperation was echoed in a petition to the Qing government: "Among the many directives repeatedly issued, there is not one which benefits the Mongolians. Consequently, we all desire that we be allowed to live according to our ancient ways."Chen Chungzu, Wai menggu jinshi shi [The modern history of Outer Mongolia], (Shanghai, 1926), bien 2, p. 5. The arrogance and brutality of Tang Zaili's staff and military escort did not help.Natsagdorj, p. 261.
Revolution Mongolian resistance No more than a month after Sando's arrival, a brawl broke out between some intoxicated lamas (Buddhist priests) and Chinese at a Chinese carpentry shop in Urga. Such incidents were not unknown in the past, but they had been firmly suppressed by Qing officials. This one developed differently. When Sando arrived at Gandan Monastery, the principal monastery in the city, to make arrests, the lamas pelted him and his troops with stones, forcing them to withdraw. Sando demanded that the Jebzundamba Khutuktu (variously spelled), the spiritual leader in Urga of the Mongolians, surrender a particular lama believed to be the ringleader of the incident. The Khutuktu refused and Sando fined him. In response, the Mongolians petitioned the Qing government to remove Sando, but without success.Ewing, p. 106.
Other incidents followed, all underscoring the diminished authority of Sando: a minor noble, Togtokh Taij, with a small band, had with the connivance of local Mongolian officials plundered several Chinese merchant shops in eastern Mongolia. Sando dispatched two detachments of soldiers to capture Togtokh. They were led into a trap by their Mongolian guide; most were killed. Mongolian princes resisted providing soldiers for Sando's army. And the prince of the khoshuun which Togtokh had raided refused Sando's demand to pay compensation to the plundered Chinese merchants.Chen Lu, Jrshi biji [Reminiscences], Shanghai (1919), p. 179.
Decision for independence
By the spring of 1911, some prominent Mongolian nobles including Prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren persuaded the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to convene a meeting of nobles and ecclesiastical officials to discuss independence. The Khutukhtu consented. To avoid suspicion, he used as a pretext the occasion of a religious festival, at which time the assembled leaders would discuss the need to reapportion taxes among the khoshuuns. The meeting occurred on July 10 and the Mongolians discussed whether it would be better to submit to or resist the will of the Qings. The assembly became deadlocked, some arguing for complete, others for partial, resistance. Eighteen nobles decided to take matters into their hands. Meeting secretly in the hills outside of Urga, they decided that Mongolia must declare its independence. They then persuaded the Khutuktu to send a delegation of three prominent representatives—a secular noble, an ecclesiastic, and a lay official from Inner Mongolia—to Russia for assistance.L. Dendev, Monglyn tovch tüükh [Short history of Mongolia],(Ulan Bator, 1934), p. 2; Sh. Sandag, Mongolyn uls töriin gadaad khariltsaa (1850–1919) Foreign relations of Mongila (1850–1919) (Ulan Bator, 1971), p. 244. The particular composition of the delegation—a noble, a cleric, and a commoner—may have been intended to invest the mission with a sense of national consensus.
The delegation to St. Petersburg brought with it a letter signed in the name of the Khutuktu and the "four khans of Khalkha." It asked for assistance against the Chinese, including arms, and implied that Russian troops would be needed against a Chinese unit which the Mongolians believed was at that moment advancing into Mongolia. To coax a commitment, the Mongols promised economic concessions in return. The letter itself was unclear as to the specific type of relationship the Mongols wished to establish with Russia. Russia wanted to include Outer Mongolia in its sphere of influence and as a buffer state offering protection from China and Japan, but never planned to make it a part of her empire.Batsaikhan, O. Mongolyn tusgaar togtnol ba Khyatad, Oros Mongol gurvan ulsyn 1915 ony Khiagtyn geree (1911–1916). Ulaanbaatar: Mongol Ulsyn Shinjlekh Ukhaany Acad. Publ. The Russian government decided to support, by diplomatic rather than by military means, not full independence for Mongolia, but autonomy within the Qing empire. It did, however, increase its consular guard in Urga to protect the returning delegation.Die Internationalen Beziehungen im Zeitalter des Imperialismus [International Relations in the Age of Imperialism], (Berlin, 1931–40), s. III, v. 1.1, p. 405.
The Russian minister in Beijing was then instructed to inform the Qing government that the Mongols had sent a delegation to St. Petersburg complaining of Chinese immigration, military build-up, and administrative reorganization. He stated that Russia could not but be concerned about these developments, in view of the common boundary shared with Khalkha, and cautioned that China would have to bear the consequences if this warning were ignored.Die Internationalen Beziehungen, pp. 494–95.
On learning of the Mongolian mission to Russia, the Qing government instructed Sando to investigate. Sando immediately summoned the head of the Khutukhtu's ecclesiastical administration (Ikh shav'), the Erdene Shanzav, and demanded an explanation. The Erdene Shanzav, pleading that he had not been involved, revealed the entire plot. Sando then demanded that the Khutuktu withdraw his request for Russian troops. The Khutuktu agreed, provided that Sando dismantle the New Administration. Sando cabled to Beijing for instructions, and was told that parts of the New Administration could be delayed.Chen Lu, p. 185.