Uryankhay Republic
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (September 2018) |
The Republic of Urjanchai | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1911–1914 | |||||||||
 The Urjanchai Republic on 1 September 1912 | |||||||||
| Common languages | Tuvan Russian | ||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||
| Amban Noyan | |||||||||
• 1911-1914 | Oyun Ölzey-Ochur oglu Kombu-Dorzhu | ||||||||
| Historical era | Long nineteenth century | ||||||||
• Established | December 1911 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 17 April 1914 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Mongolia
 Russia | ||||||||
The Urjanchai Republic was proclaimed a republic, with the encouragement of the Russian Empire, after a separatist movement among the Tuvans in 1911, during the Xinhai Revolution and the Mongolian Revolution of 1911. On 1 December 1911, Outer Mongolia declared independence from Great Qing. In the second half of December 1911, bands of Uriankhai began plundering and burning Chinese shops.[1]
Uriankhai nobles were divided on their course of political action. The Uriankhai governor (amban-Noyon), Gombo-Dorzhu, advocated becoming a protectorate of Russia, hoping that the Russians, in turn, would appoint him Governor of Uriankhai. However, the princes of two other khoshuns preferred to submit to the new Outer Mongolian state under the theocratic rule of the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu of Urga.[2]
Undeterred, Gombu-Dorzhu sent a petition to the Frontier Superintendent at Usinsk, stating that he had been chosen as leader of an independent Tannu Uriankhai state. He asked for protection and proposed that Russian troops be sent immediately into the country to prevent China from restoring its rule over the region. There was no reply—three months earlier the Tsarist Council of Ministers had already decided on a policy of gradual, cautious absorption of Uriankhai by encouraging Russian colonization. Precipitous action by Russia, the Council feared, might provoke China.[3] Tsar Nicholas II ordered Russian troops into the Urjanchai Republic in 1912, under the pretext that Russian settlers were allegedly being attacked.
This position changed, however, as a result of pressure from commercial circles in Russia for a more activist approach, and a Russian sponsored 'petition' from two Uriankhai khoshuns in the fall of 1913 requesting to be accepted as a part of Russia. Other Uriankhai khoshuns soon followed suit. On 14 April 1914, the Urjanchai Republic was brought under Russian protectorate as the Uryankhay Krai.[4][5]
References
- ^ Robertson, P. (2011). Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781608197385. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
- ^ L. Dendev, Mongolyn touch tüükh [Brief History of Mongolia] (Ulan Bator, 1934), p. 55.
- ^ N.P. Leonov, Tannu Tuva (Moscow, 1927), p. 42.
- ^ Istoriya Tuvy [History of Tuva], v. 1, pp. 354-55.
- ^ "RossTuva | ТЫВА Tuva". hubert-herald.nl. Retrieved 2018-08-25.