Batsaikhan Ookhnoi Emgent

Palgrave Handbook of Mongolian Nationalism

On December 29, 1911, the Mongols seceded from the Manchu Empire, proclaimed their independence, and elevated Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu as the Emperor of Mongolia, ending 220 years of Manchu rule. The Mongols have almost forgotten at present the Eighth Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu who initiated, organized and led that historical event. He was vehemently decried and was given various names such as 'the feudal' and 'the blind' during Mongolia's recent socialist past. He was even depicted until his death as a sworn enemy of Mongolia's independence. An attempt was made in this work to show, as objectively as possible and on the basis of archival sources, the contribution of the Eighth Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, Mongolia's last Emperor to the struggle for Mongolia's independence, the commencement and culmination of Mongolia's national revolution of 1911, the relationship between the Bogdo khaan and the People's Government, the death of the Bogdo khaan and the attempts to identify his reincarnation and the confiscation of Bogdo's properties. We should never forget that the Bogdo khaan was the leader of the Mongols' religion, an Emperor who wielded power in both the state and church since 1911, an extraordinary leader and a father of Mongolia's national revolution. This work will interest historians of Asia, Mongolia, Russia and, the Soviet Union, and those tracing the journey from empire to nation.