The 1917 Conquest of the Capital Town of Barga (Hulunbuir) by Mongolian Guerillas

Abstract

Goal. The work aims to analyze one understudied problem ― the capture of Hailar, a capital town of Barga (Hulunbuir), by Mongolian guerrillas in May of 1917 ― and studies Russian intelligence and diplomatic documents contained in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (Rus. AVPRI) and the Russian Archive of Military History (Rus. RGVIA) involving some other sources. The paper reconstructs the conquest of the town by the rebels and discusses causes and consequences of the event. Conclusion. The analysis makes it possible to conclude that although the rebels acted on the advice of their Japanese instructors, it was their personal motives that stood behind the capture of Hailar. The motives were related to dissatisfaction of the Mongols and Solons with the power of the Daurian minority in Barga who declared Mongolian reels to be ‘robbers of Mongolia’ while the latter viewed themselves as fighters for Mongolian people’s liberation; the preparation of the former authorities of Barga to struggle against the rebels, including the aid of China; the desire of rebels to involve Barga into the Manchu monarchy restoration movement. The root of the ‘Kharachin issue’ was not machinations of the Japanese but the deprivation of the local Mongols of a right to self-determination in the aftermath of the Qing Empire’s collapse and during the formation of nation-states of Mongolian and Chinese peoples. As a result, members of Inner Mongolia’s national liberation movement were bound to use any opportunity that seemed useful for the achievement of independence from China. The Japanese used the ‘Kharachin issue’ for their own purposes but they were not its creators.