Khalkhin-Gol: Military and Political Cooperation of the USSR and the MNR (1939-1945)

Abstract

Despite the numerous contemporary studies of military-political cooperation between the USSR and Mongolia, a lot of questions remain requiring deeper understanding and analysis. They include issues relating to the geopolitical situation, bilateral Soviet-Mongolian cooperation in the military-political and economic spheres on the eve of the Second World War. The contemporary Russian and Mongolian researchers believe that the events at Khalkhin-Gol marked the beginning of this war. Thus, this article aims to analyze the entire spectrum of the military-political and economic cooperation between the USSR and Mongolia, taking into account both domestic and international factors during the events in Khalkhin-Gol. The methodological basis of this study involves the principles of historicism and objectivism, which allowed to establish an objective geopolitical situation associated with the exacerbation of the situation in the Far East in connection with the aggressive plans of Japan. The latter threatened the national sovereignty and security not only of Mongolia, but also of the USSR first. Under these conditions, the USSR was the only guarantor of the preservation of Mongolian statehood. The main conclusions include the following. One of the decisive armed confrontations on the eve of the Second World War was the events on the Khalkhin-Gol River, during which the combined forces of the USSR and Mongolia managed to win a decisive victory over the Japanese-Manchurian troops. The main task of the USSR was to protect its borders in the Far East, while Mongolia was a reliable ally against the aggressive plans of Japan. The 1936 Protocol of Mutual Assistance between the USSR and the Mongolian People’s Republic is an example of a mutually beneficial union of two states directed against external aggression. The victory at Khalkhin-Gol had not only great importance on changing the balance of power, the conclusion of the Soviet-German Pact of 1939, but it also contributed to the formation of Mongolian statehood, strengthening the Soviet-Mongolian military-political union. According to the results of the Yalta Conference of 1945, the “status quo” of Mongolia was finally defined, which marked the beginning of its independence and international recognition.