In 1917, Russian revolutionaries overthrew their country’s last czar and eventually installed a communist government. Under communism, the state owns almost all property, and one political party-the Communist Party-controls the government and the economy. The Russian Communists divided the vast territory they controlled into a series of republics and called them the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Moscow was the capital of this new nation, and Russia was the dominant republic. The Soviet Union created 14 other Soviet Socialist Republics, and most had once been part of the Mongol Empire. These territories were centered in what had been the Ulus Chaghatai, the northeastern part of the Ilkhanate, and the southern and eastern lands of the Golden Horde. The five in Central Asia
Were Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were under Ilkhanate influence, while the Golden Horde ruled or influenced what became Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. (After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, all these republics became independent nations.)
In 1921 Soviet troops helped the Mongolians in Outer Mongolia defeat Chinese forces and Russians who opposed communism. In 1924, Mongolia declared its independence as the People’s Republic of Mongolia, though in reality it came under the direct influence of the Soviet Union. Some Mongols also lived in lands that were part of Soviet Union.
Under Soviet domination, Mongolia adopted a Communist government. As in the Soviet Union, members of the Communist Party dominated all aspects of politics and the economy. Officials cracked down on
Unrest in Inner Mongolia
More Mongolians live in China than in Mongolia. Inner Mongolia, still a part of China, runs along the southern and eastern border of Mongolia and China. It includes large stretches of the Gobi Desert. China named Inner Mongolia an "autonomous region" in 1947, which in theory means the people there govern themselves. In reality, the Chinese are firmly in control. Chinese immigrants began ploughing up the Mongol steppes and pastures on a large scale in the early 1900s. And since 1947, the Chinese have established vast mines, steel mills, and cashmere mills to exploit Inner Mongolia's resources. Over the past few decades the Chinese have tried to weaken Mongol culture by sending ethnic Chinese to work and live in Inner Mongolia; ethnic Chinese now outnumber the Mongols by about six to one. Since the 1990s, some Mongols have protested the Chinese assault on their culture and limits on their political freedom.
The Mongolians’ traditional religions-Buddhism and shamanism. The Communists destroyed temples and killed monks. The Soviets forced the Mongolians to abandon their traditional writing system and use the Russian alphabet.
The Soviet influence, however, also led to some positive change, as education spread and farming methods improved. Still, the Mongols lacked political and cultural freedom. They also became extremely isolated from the rest of the world; the Soviets set up military bases across Mongolia and pressured the country to forbid tourism in order to maintain secrecy at these bases. But Mongolia threw off its ties to Soviets in 1991, and Mongolian leaders began creating democratic political systems.
In 1990, when Mongolians began demanding changes in their government, some protesters carried signs saying morindoo-“movint up.” This was the cry Chinggis Khan used to send
His troops into battle. Today, the Mongols try to balance their nomadic ways from the past with modern life. People still live in felt gers, but outside the tent a solar-powered satellite dish pulls in television signals from around the world. Young boys still learn to ride bareback on horses, then perhaps grow up to attend college and study engineering. Journalist Glenn Hodges, in an article published in the October 2003 issue of National Geographic, quotes Mongolian prime minister Nam-baryn Enkhbayar, “In order to survive we have to stop being nomads.” Yet many Mongols still choose the nomadic life-their main tie to the past glory of Chinggis Khan.
The Tatars Today
The Russians called the Mongols of the Golden Horde Tatars, taking the name from one of the tribes Chinggis Khan had defeated when he unified Mongolia. From this name, Europeans came up with Tartars. Some historical sources claim this name was a reference to Greek mythology: Tartarus was the deepest part of hell, where wicked people received their punishment after they died. To the Europeans, the Mongols seemed as if they were demons from hell, so it made sense to change their name from Tatars to Tartars.
During World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin forced the remaining Tatars of the Crimea to leave their homes and settle in other regions of the Soviet Union—a country which included Russia and other Central Asian lands. He feared the Tatars would help the Germans in their fight against the Soviet Union. Today, thousands of Crimean Tatars are still trying to return to their homeland, which is now part of Ukraine. Descendants of the Golden Horde also live today in Tatarstan.
World History
