Sukhbaatar, Damdiny

(1893–1923), Mongolian communist leader. Damdiny Sukhbaatar was Mongolia's official national hero during the Communist era (1921–1991). Born into a serf family in Yost Beysiyn hosuu, in what is now Sukh-Batar Aimig, he began his military career in the Mongolian army during Mongolia's Autonomous Period (1911–1921), fighting on the eastern border with China. Later he worked as a typesetter and became involved in a revolutionary circle formed in response to Mongolia's helplessness in the face of Chinese and White Russian intervention. In August 1920, Sukhbaatar was among the members of a group sent to establish political contact with Soviet Russia. He remained at Irkutsk while others in the group went to Moscow. After returning to Mongolia in early 1921, Sukhbaatar helped organize partisan detachments to fight against the White Russian general Ungern-Sternberg (1885–1921), then occupying Mongolia.

Sukhbaatar subsequently became a member of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and minister of war. After the liberation of the city of Urga (now Ulaanbaatar) from the army of Ungern-Sternberg, he continued to serve as minister of war in the new Mongolian People's Republic established in October 1921, the same year of the establishment of the Mongolian People's Army. Shortly before his death, Sukhbaatar visited Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) in Moscow and received the Order of the Red Banner for his contributions to the Mongolian Revolution. After his death, Sukhbaatar became the national hero of the new Mongolia. Today his remains lie in a mausoleum on Ulaanbaatar's central square, named in his honor and dominated by his equestrian statue.

Bawden, C. R. (1989) The Modern History of Mongolia. London: Kegan Paul.

Sanders, Alan J. K. (1996) Historical Dictionary of Mongolia. Lanham, MD, and London: Scarecrow.