independence referendum An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence ...

was held in the

Mongolian People's Republic The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...

on 20 October 1945. It was approved by 100% of voters, with no votes against, according to official statistics. Voter turnout was 98.5%. Mongolia had gained ''de facto'' independence from the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

in the

Mongolian Revolution of 1921 The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 (Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921, or People's Revolution of 1921) was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, expelled Russian White Guar ...

. In that year the last Chinese troops in Mongolia had been expelled by the White Russian general

Roman von Ungern-Sternberg Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (russian: link=no, Роман Фёдорович фон Унгерн-Штернберг, translit=Roman Fedorovich fon Ungern-Shternberg; 10 January 1886 – 15 September 1921), often refer ...

, prompting Soviet intervention. The Mongolian People's Republic was effectively an unrecognized

satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(USSR). Towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the USSR pushed China for formal recognition of the ''status quo'', threatening to stir up Mongolian nationalism within China. In the

Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance (Traditional Chinese: 中蘇友好同盟條約) was a treaty signed by the National Government of the Republic of China and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 14 August 194 ...

signed on 14 August 1945, China agreed to recognize Mongolian independence after a successful referendum. The actual referendum was regarded by both sides as political theatre, due to the peculiarity of a supposed unanimous 100% vote in favour.

Sergey Radchenko Sergey S. Radchenko () is a Soviet-born British historian. He is the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and visiting professor at Ca ...

(22 October 2015)
"The Truth About Mongolia's Independence 70 Years Ago"
''The Diplomat''. Retrieved 3 December 2019.

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References

{{Mongolian elections

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Referendums in Mongolia

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See also

References