In the long history of human civilization, the Mongols should be considered an extremely dazzling existence. This nomadic nation that rose up in the hinterland of Asia was famous for its military force. It defeated invincible opponents throughout Europe and Asia, and once became

In the long history of human civilization, the Mongols should be considered an extremely dazzling existence. This nomadic nation that emerged in the hinterland of Asia was famous for its military force. It had defeated invincible opponents throughout , Europe and , and once became the leader on the earth.

At the beginning of the 13th century AD, Genghis Khan Temujin unified the Mongolian tribes and established the Mongol Empire . Then Genghis Khan and his descendants embarked on expansion mode, frantically conquering every piece of land that their horses' hooves could reach. At that time, not only was most of Asia trampled under the feet of the Mongols, but Europe was also the hunting ground for the Mongolian cavalry. All the Polish, Rus-Germanic countries were ravaged.

Through continuous annexation and conquest, the Mongols established a huge empire across Eurasia in the 13th century. At its peak, its territory covered an area of ​​33 million square kilometers, comparable to the empire on which the sun never sets. There is no doubt that it was the era of the Mongols. Therefore, in the classification of historians, the 13th century is often called the "Mongol century".

But everyone has moments of glory, don’t take a moment as eternity. The nomadic peoples live in pursuit of water and grass, and the tribes are scattered and difficult to gather, making it difficult to establish a stable and lasting political power. This is true for the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Turks, and Mongolia is no exception. After experiencing a brief period of glory in the 13th century, the Mongol Empire began to decline. The khanates were divided and destroyed, and they never regained their former strength.

Especially in modern times, with the popularization of hot weapons such as muskets and cannons, the cavalry, the most proud of the Mongols, was tragically eliminated. In 1860 AD, Seng Gelinqin, a descendant of the Golden Family, led the Mongolian cavalry to fight against the British and French allied forces at Bali Bridge in Tongzhou. Although the Mongols on horseback were still fierce and brave, the artillery fire was merciless and they could not escape the outcome of defeat.

The disastrous defeat of the Battle of Baliqiao completely declared the end of the Mongolian era. From now on, there will be no stage for them to perform in this world, and they can only become vassals of surrounding powers.

In fact, as early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Mongolian tribes had been gradually included in the Chinese territory. Among them, Mobei Mongolia, the latest one, officially became part of the Qing Dynasty in 1691 AD in the Duolun League hosted by Emperor Kangxi.

It is worth mentioning that at that time, Mobei Mongolia was attached to the Qing Dynasty relatively late and was not as close as the early Mongolian tribes that had attached themselves to the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, in order to facilitate differentiated management, the Qing Dynasty called it Mongolia. The various Mongolian tribes that were previously subordinated were called Inner Mongolia. Since then, Mongolia has been divided into "Inner Mongolia" and " Outer Mongolia ". This also paved the way for the independence of "Outer Mongolia" in the future.

At the beginning of the 120th century, the Qing Dynasty , which was suffering from internal and external troubles, became increasingly unable to rule Mongolia. The Tsarist Russian Empire, which had coveted the territory of the Qing Dynasty for a long time, took the opportunity to incite the Mongolian princes and nobles to break away.

In 1911 AD, the monks and lay nobles of Outer Mongolia, headed by the eighth Jebzundamba, expelled the Qing government with the support of Russians, declared the independence of Outer Mongolia, and established the " Bogdo Khanate". At that time, the Qing Dynasty was in danger and could not take care of its borders at all. It could only watch Outer Mongolia become independent. Although the Republic of China government that subsequently took over was determined to recover, it was difficult to make any progress due to the constraints of and Tsarist Russia.

It was not until 1919 AD, when Russia fell into civil war after the October Revolution, that the Beiyang government was able to officially send troops to Outer Mongolia. The Beiyang Army, under the command of General Xu Shuzheng , successfully entered Kulun , Kobdo , and even recovered the Tangnu Ulianghai area that had been occupied by Tsarist Russia, and the Chinese Begonia leaves were unified.

However, the good times did not last long. In 1920, the Zhijiang-Anhui War broke out. Xu Shuzheng led his army back to join the war, but was defeated and exiled. This result directly led to the emptiness of Outer Mongolia, and the Soviets, who inherited the "fine traditions" of Tsarist Russia, took advantage of the void and helped Qiubashan lead the Mongolian People's Party to achieve independence.Finally, with the help of the Soviet army, Qiubashan launched an armed revolution in 1921, successfully repelled the garrisoned Beiyang army, and took control of Outer Mongolia. Outer Mongolia once again achieved de facto independence.

In the following twenty years, although the Republic of China government always insisted on sovereignty over Outer Mongolia, it did not recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia. But he had no choice but to deal with a lot of mess and constant troubles, and he simply didn't have the ability to make substantive responses. Of course, even if the Republic of China government sends troops, it remains to be seen whether it can defeat the Soviets stationed there. Think about it, in the subsequent Battle of Nomenkan, even if it was as powerful as the Japanese Kwantung Army, it could not take advantage of the Soviets.

Therefore, under the limitations of its own strength, the Republic of China government could only watch Outer Mongolia being independent like the Qing Dynasty.

Of course no matter what, we did not recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia at that time. So in theory, we still have sovereignty over this land. As long as the opportunity is right later, we can take back Outer Mongolia, just like Xu Shuzheng took back Outer Mongolia before.

During World War II , China, as the mainstay of the allies in the Asian battlefield, made a great contribution to the victory. Logically speaking, this is an excellent opportunity for us to reassert our sovereignty over Outer Mongolia. However, what was unexpected was that the three giants, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, actually joined forces to stab their allies in the back. In the Yalta Conference , in order to get the Soviet Union to send troops to Japan to end the war as soon as possible, Britain and the United States directly agreed to let Outer Mongolia maintain its independent status quo, denying the possibility of the Republic of China government's efforts to recover Outer Mongolia after the war from the "source".

It is true that the Republic of China government also approached the Soviet Union for negotiations after the war, but without the support of major powers such as Britain and the United States, China, with its weak country and poor people, was simply unable to ask the Soviet Union to compromise. As Stalin said:

If you don’t have the power, and you still say these words, it is equivalent to nonsense.

A weak country has no diplomacy. Faced with the absolute gap in strength, we, just like the Paris Peace Conference, can only bite our teeth and suffer this dumb loss. Under the pressure of the Soviet Union, the Republic of China government chose to compromise and allowed Outer Mongolia to decide whether to be independent in the form of a referendum. At that time, the Soviet Union had been running Outer Mongolia for many years, so the result of this referendum was naturally obvious.

In the end, Outer Mongolia voted for independence with a high vote rate of 97.8%, and this result was officially recognized by the Republic of China government on January 5, 1946. Since then, Mongolia has been completely separated from China and has become a completely independent country, which is the Mongolia we see today.

Since the invention of guns, the grassland people have become good at singing and dancing. Mongolia, which has lost its self-confidence in force, is like a grassroots in troubled times. Whichever way the wind blows, they will fall. At that time, China was weak and impoverished, and could not protect itself. Naturally, it could not have a promising future without the powerful Soviet Union as its backing. Therefore, from the perspective of interests, it is very reasonable for Mongolia to choose to leave China and join the Soviet Union.

However, the ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny. After Mongolia left China and switched to the Soviet Union, it failed to usher in the beautiful life it longed for.

After Mongolia became independent, it adopted a one-sided strategy against the Soviet Union for a long time. The Soviet Union had the final say in everything. It even allowed the Soviet Union to station troops in Mongolia, which was like a colony of the Soviet Union. Therefore, Mongolia is also known as the 16th republic of the Soviet Union. As for Mongolia's determination, the Soviet Union responded generously and provided various assistance to help Mongolia build its country.

With the support of the Soviet Union, Mongolia's economy has been significantly improved. For example, in terms of industry, Mongolia has initially established its own industrial system, with a number of basic industrial facilities such as coal mines, power plants and railways. In terms of agriculture, in addition to continuing to develop its traditional livestock industry, Mongolia has also reclaimed a large amount of wasteland and started planting grains, with grain production rising year by year.

Objectively speaking, although Mongolia was living under the high-pressure policies of the Soviet Union at that time and was subject to various political purges and cultural changes, the national economic situation was indeed not bad, and it could be considered that the Mongolians lived a good life. But this so-called "good life" was actually based on the support of the Soviet Union and was not created by the Mongols themselves.

In the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union's economy declined, Mongolia received less and less aid, and they even had to export their own resources to support the Soviet Union. With this sudden drop in income, various problems that Mongolia had previously buried under the cover of the "Soviet economy" have gradually come to the fore.

For example, in terms of industry, Mongolia’s industrial system at that time was mainly concentrated in the fields of coal mining and electric power. As for the industrial products needed for daily use, it still mainly relied on imports from the Soviet Union. Originally, the Soviet Union was weak in this aspect, and it might be okay to take care of Mongolia in normal times, but now it doesn't have enough, so it obviously can't take care of Mongolia. As a result, the Soviet Union gradually reduced and even suspended the export of industrial products to Mongolia. This caused huge problems in the functioning of Mongolian society, and it was difficult for everyone to buy a bar of soap.

Of course, the situation of Mongolia's traditional industries is not good, because these industrial facilities were built to a large extent to cooperate with the Soviet industrial system, and they were equivalent to parts of the Soviet machine. Since the host is broken, the parts and components will also lose their function.

Mongolia, which has not formed an independent national industrial system and has always relied on foreign aid, will not last long. Finally, in 1991, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Mongolia's industrial system also collapsed, and the economy showed a cliff-like decline. According to statistics, Mongolia's annual gross national income at that time was only 180 million U.S. dollars, and its per capita income was less than 100 U.S. dollars. It was almost on the verge of collapse and could only rely on foreign debt to tide over the crisis.

Of course, long-term pain is worse than short-term pain. After all, the Soviet Union itself is not a material for playing economics. If Mongolia follows this kind of scumbag, it will be a matter of time before it overturns. As the saying goes, there is no establishment without destruction. The disintegration of the Soviet Union Although it caused a nearly devastating blow to the Mongolian economy, it also opened up a new situation for Mongolia's subsequent economic development.

You must know that Mongolia's economic conditions are not bad and its resource endowment is very outstanding. It is known as "a country sitting on a mine". According to statistics, Mongolia currently has more than 80 proven mineral resources, including coal, iron, copper, gold, phosphorus, rare earth and so on. Among them, the proven reserves of minerals such as copper, iron, and coal are among the highest in the world. Just looking at Mongolia's talent in resources, it is clear that the local tycoon is destined to be rich. If used properly, it will not be too easy to get rich.

Unfortunately, more than 30 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Mongolia’s economy is still in bad shape. The foreign debt owed by the government alone is as high as 30 billion US dollars. Calculated based on Mongolia's current GDP of about 15 billion US dollars, even if the entire country does not eat or drink but only works, it will take a full two years to repay the debt. Of course, for Mongolia's finances, which have been unable to make ends meet all year round, it would be great to be able to guarantee that they will no longer borrow money, let alone repay debts.

The reason why Mongolia's economic development is so bad is that, on the one hand, when it was dealing with the Soviet Union, the accumulated disadvantages were too serious and difficult to recover in a short period of time. Although Mongolia is rich in resources, it lacks corresponding development capabilities due to the lack of a supporting industrial system. It is often possible to make money by digging out many minerals, but the Mongolians just can't dig them up. Although some minerals can be mined, the mining costs are very high, resulting in no profit margin.

Even if these resources are sold to make money, Mongolia still needs to import industrial products. In view of Mongolia's huge gap in the import of industrial products, the money earned may not be enough to spend. Being unable to make ends meet, the Mongols could only beg for food even if they were guarding mountains of gold and silver.

On the other hand, Mongolia’s own location conditions are not very good. As a landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia, Mongolia’s external access channels are all controlled by its two neighbors.

If analyzed from a security perspective alone, this is undoubtedly a good position. After all, China and Russia are both the top powers in the world today. With them as bodyguards, Mongolia does not have to worry about being invaded by other forces. It is no exaggeration to say that Mongolia is the safest country in the world today, or the most difficult country to invade geographically.

But from the perspective of economic development, Mongolia’s location conditions are relatively disadvantaged. There are insufficient trade options externally, and it is difficult to attract suitable investment internally. Without economic circulation, so-called economic construction will be out of the question.

In fact, the reason why Mongolia has fallen to this point is that it ultimately chose to leave China. If they hadn't made this choice, they probably wouldn't be where they are today. In this regard, Inner Mongolia is the best example. It is obviously of the same origin as Mongolia, but its development has lagged behind Mongolia.

Taking GDP data as an example, Inner Mongolia's total GDP in 2021 will be as high as 318 billion US dollars, which is almost equivalent to 21 Mongolia. In addition, Inner Mongolia's per capita GDP in 2021 reached 13,000 US dollars, which is almost three times the per capita GDP of Mongolia.

Faced with such a huge data disparity, who should Mongolia follow back then? The answer is obvious.