Roman F. Ungern and the attempts to organize the center of Anti-Bolshevik resistance in Mongolia (1918-1921)

The biographical profile is devoted to the life of General R.F. Ungern von Shternberg in 1918-1921. Its first part features an attempt to establish an anti-Bolshevik centre in Transbaikalia in 1919-1920. The author makes the first usage of previously unknown archival documents. It is argued that Baron Ungern von Shternberg's activity as well as General G.M. Semenov's should be viewed in accordance with key objectives of the White movement, rather than their own adventurous plans and deeds. These objectives were worked out by Admiral A.V. Kolchak's government on the basis of social, economic, political, national and religious development of Southern Siberia and Mongolia. Additionally, Russian Empire's foreign policy is analyzed as affecting the foreign policy of the White movement in Russia's East, particularly, in its relations with China and Mongolia in 1918-1920. The author shows that Admiral Kolchak's Russian government as well as generals Semenov and Ungern, the White power regional leaders in Transbaikalia, sought to find support from the local population. This was necessary for expanding the social base for anti-Bolshevik resistance.