Outer Mongolia on the World Stage

Abstract

Mongolian People's Republic into a prominence singularly out of proportion either to the population or the economy of this remote region. The Importance course of internal development whereMainly by the old social and economic patterns Strategic of the country are being transformed has no doubt considerable import for other Asiatic lands, particularly for the Mongols in Manchoukuo and Inner Mongolia. But for the most part it is preeminently strategic considerations which have made Outer Mongolia a household word in circles where world politics are discussed. In this distant landlocked corner of the globe have clashed all the instruments of modern warfare. The position of Outer Mongolia?bordered on the north by the U.S.S.R. and on the east by Manchoukuo ?has inevitably brought the country into the orbit of Soviet-Japanese friction. Should a large-scale war materialize, Mongolia lies in the path of any flanking movements. Already the frontier incidents which have characterized Soviet-Japanese relations since 1932 have several times shifted from the Soviet-Manchoukuo border to the boundary between Manchoukuo and Outer Mongolia. In 1935 Japan and Manchoukuo made an unsuccessful attempt to open up the region. In 1936 there was sporadic border fighting on the Mongol frontier for several months?even after the publication of the Mutual Assistance Pact between the U.S.S.R. and the Mongolian People's Republic had re? moved all ambiguity regarding the Soviet position. In the battles this summer Soviet forces fought side by si e with the Mongols as they had fought eighteen years earlier against Baron Ungern von Stemberg, the white Russian who had seized Outer Mongolia and with Japanese support was launching an attack upon Siberia. What has been the course of development of Outer Mongolia since the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party established a government in 1921 ? What are the resources of the country? What is its economic life? What market does it offer? What is its military strength? Information is lacking on some of the questions which arise concerning the Mongols; but enough is known to give perspective to the recent battles which have brought mechanized warfare to the borders of a pastoral people. The territory of the Republic is almost sufficiently large?about 580,000 square miles?to embrace the combined areas of Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Lightly scattered over this expanse are