The Mongolian Revolution of 1911 () occurred when the region of Outer Mongolia declared its independence from the Manchu-led Qing China during the Xinhai Revolution. A combination of factors, including economic hardship and failure to resist Western imperialism, led many in China to be unhappy with the Qing government. When a new program to settle Mongolia with ethnic Han and assimilate the natives was unveiled, it was met with resistance that resulted in a relatively bloodless separation from the Qing Empire. Many Barga and Inner Mongolian chieftains assisted in the revolution and became the revolution leaders.
Background
By the early 20th century, Mongolia was impoverished. Repercussions from the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) were primarily responsible for this economic deterioration. Loss of tax revenue from South China during the rebellion and expenses for its suppression had depleted the Qing treasury. Silver, rather than livestock as was the custom, became the primary medium for paying taxes. The major source of silver for Mongols was from loans borrowed from Han merchants. These loans, transacted at crippling interest rates, were repaid in livestock, which was then exported to China proper. The result was a catastrophic decline in the size of the herds upon which the livelihood of Mongolians depended.<ref>A.P. Bennigsen, while traveling through Mongolia in 1909 to 1911, was told by Mongolians that their herds had decreased ten-fold during the past decade. Neskol'ko dannykh o sovremmenoi Mongolii [Some information on modern Mongolia], (St. Petersburg, 1912), p. 57. This is supported by the archives of the ecclesiastical administration of the Jebzundamba Hutuhtu (Ikh Shav'''), which recorded a decline in the number of livestock from a million in 1861 to around 12,000 in 1909. D. Tsedev, Ikh shav' [Ecclesiastical administration], (Ulan Bator, 1964), p. 91.</ref>
A disintegrating economy, growing debt, and increasing tax demands were ingredients of social and political unrest in Mongolia. However, it was Qing plans for the transformation of Outer Mongolia that produced the impetus for rebellion.
"New Administration"
The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro in what is today Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). They were certainly not the first non-Han people to rule all of China, but the fate of previous dynasties had always been the same: they invaded; they governed; they assimilated; and eventually they merged, more or less becoming Chinese themselves. Attempts were made to keep the Manchu strain ethnically pure, although these efforts proved fruitless. The early Qing rulers enacted various laws to isolate Manchuria from China proper (Eighteen Provinces) and Mongolia. They did the same for the Mongols: Han Chinese were prohibited from entering Mongolia and Mongols were not allowed to travel outside their own leagues. Mongols were forbidden from speaking Chinese languages or intermarrying with the Han Chinese. While over time enforcement waned, the laws still remained on the books, receiving at least token observance.
Western imperialism in China during the latter part of the 19th century changed political priorities in China. The Qing defeat by the Japanese in 1895 (First Sino-Japanese War), followed shortly afterwards by the German seizure of Shantung and the "scramble for concessions" that followed dramatically proved the inadequacy of previous Qing efforts to resist the West. The Boxer Rebellion, and particularly Japan's victory over Russia in 1905, were widely interpreted in China as the triumph of constitutionalism over autocracy. It was then that far-reaching economic, political, and military reforms, known as the "New Administration" or "New Policies" (Xin zheng), were ordered.
In Outer Mongolia, however, the New Administration was implemented rather differently. The aim was not simply modernization, as it was in Han Chinese territories, but cultural assimilation. Russia's occupation of the Liaodong Peninsula in 1898 and then of Northern Manchuria in 1900 confirmed the Qing government's fears of a larger Russian design on the entire northern frontier of their empire. Qing rulers came to believe that the continued survival of their state as an integral entity depended on the effectiveness of their frontier serving as a protective "shield" (in the language of the time) for China proper. To accomplish this, the peoples inhabiting this region would have to become Chinese.