On the Famine in the Volga Region in the 1920s and on the Issue of the Kalmyk’s Resettlement to Mongolia

Abstract

In the 1920s, two disastrous droughts and rash happened in the Volga region which led to crop damage and famine. The Kalmyk people were in a difficult situation and had to ask the Mongolian people for help. The Government of Mongolia adopted some emergency measures to provide humanitarian assistance. Firstly, wages of some state employees were reduced; secondly, the Mongolian Government borrowed some funding from the state treasury; and thirdly, several thousand heads of cattle were sent to Kalmykia. Thus, the Kalmyk people got timely help from Mongolia and overcame all the difficulties. The Government of Mongolia decided on possible relocation of the Kalmyks to their historical homeland, but it was not in the plans of the Soviet Union.