For many people, Mongolia is a country of wide-open steppe, vast deserts, stunning mountains, and untouched wilderness roamed by wildlife; of course, it’s for this reason so many travellers venture to this country to discover the culture of one of the world’s last nomadic societies.
What many don’t know, is that Mongolia was in fact the second communist nation to be founded, after the Soviet Union, following a revolution in 1921 which saw the government deposed and a new people’s republic declared.
From 1924 to 1990, the People’s Republic of Mongolia served as a buffer state between their close ally to the north, the Soviet Union, and their communist neighbour to the south, the People’s Republic of China.
This might suggest Mongolia was nestled betwixt allies. Not so.
The Sino-Soviet Split is the term for the divergence of ideology between Beijing and Moscow, sparking tensions which continued for decades. And so, Mongolia served as the de-facto no-mans land between these two growing communist powers and, as a close ally of the USSR, Moscow decided to establish a first line of defence throughout Mongolia in case of any overzealous advances by Beijing.
This policy has left Mongolia peppered with a mysterious legacy; a legacy we’re going to take a look at in this article.
History
The Sino-Soviet Split emerged at the beginning of the 1960s as the USSR instituted a policy of de-Stalinisation.
This policy was aimed at dismantling the cult of personality that had been constructed around Josef Stalin in the years he led the country and continued after his death.
Led by then-General Secretary Nikita Krushchev, the campaign to change the nature of the national government focused on diluting the nation’s leadership. Instead of focusing on one central leader, the General Secretary would once again be a de-facto ‘First-Among-Equals’ along with the rest of the central committee of the Communist Party.
This new policy was at odds with the Communist Party of China, which had only been in power for a decade at that point. Chairman Mao saw this new system of communism as revisionist, causing the two countries to diverge politically and their relations to deteriorate.
From 1962, Moscow turned to their ally Mongolia and a few years later, signed a mutual cooperation treaty which ceded land in Mongolia to the Soviet military, allowing them to build military bases along the main route connecting China and the USSR.
The three areas where land was ceded were:
- Ulaanbaatar, capital of the People’s Republic of Mongolia and the largest, most developed population centre in the entire country.
- Sainshand, a city in the southern Gobi Desert founded as a major military encampment and also a significant stop along the trans-Mongolian Railway.
- Choibalsan, a city in the far east of Mongolia, and closer to the USSR-China-Mongolia tripoint border than any other base. Named after the first Marshal of Mongolia, Choibalsan.
Over the years, construction began in these locations and often spilled out into other parts of the country. From runways and fighter jet hangers, to entire cities built to house soldiers, officers, and their families.
Mongolia Soviet Tour
Twice a year, we run our Soviet Mongolia tour, aiming to delve into Mongolia’s socialist history – from the Soviet-planned city centre of Ulaanbaatar, to the abandoned apartment buildings and destroyed murals which cover the countryside in Mongolia.
So, in this article we’ll cover the main highlights on this adventure;
Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar, literally ‘Red Hero City’ is the capital of Mongolia and the beginning of our adventure. We’ll explore the heart of Ulaanbaatar, a city planned and built by the Soviet Union working alongside their allies in Mongolia.
Sukhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar
It’s hard to miss the notable Soviet architecture which graces downtown Ulaanbaatar. The government palace is a classic example of Soviet-style government architecture, but the square is also surrounded by other beautiful buildings from the Culture Palace, Art Gallery, Art Theatre, Stock Exchange, State Bank, and the HQ of the Ulaanbaatar City Government.
As part of our adventure we’ll visit some of the city’s communist highlights. The State Department Store, once the main government-run store in the city. A quirky monument to the Beatles, the former Museum or Vladimir I Lenin, a hidden statue of Lenin, and the old Soviet-era railway station.
It’s from this railway station that we’ll board the sleeper train through the desert to our next destination.
Sainshand
Our train will roll into Sainshand, the capital of Dornogovi province, in the early hours of the morning.
This city was formally founded in 1931 as a stop along the trans-Mongolian railway and was developed through the 1940s and 1950s around the railway line. The city is very obviously split into two main sections; the northern section is set alongside the train tracks and is noticeable old-style Soviet in design.
The southern section of the city is newer, built to house the officers of the Soviet Red Army defending the China-Mongolia border which sits a few hundred kilometres to the south of Sainshand.
To the west of the city is what we’re there to see. A huge 7-km long area filled with concrete rubble, smashed tiles, wires, and the remains of what was one a huge complex of army barracks. We’ll explore these ruins, as well as an old radar station which remains in better condition than the rest of the base.
After exploring Sainshand, we’ll make our way north along the main north-south highway back towards Ulaanbaatar, stopping to visit plenty of hotspots along the way.
Bayantal
The small town of Bayantal, literally Rich Steppe, sits alongside the highway and, at first glance, looks just like a series of apartment blocks in the desert. As we approach however, it will become obvious that these apartment blocks are abandoned – once home to USSR officers serving at the nearby fighter base.
We’ll be able to climb inside these crumbling apartments to see how they were laid out, and how families once lived out here on the steppe – thousands of miles away from their homes in the USSR.
Once we’ve explored these apartments, checked out the collapsing MiG-21 statue, and the old parade ground, we’ll continue on our adventure.
Bagakhangai
We’ll stop at a few other towns on the way north. The old city of Choir, the abandoned houses in Shivee-Ovoo, but eventually we’ll pay a visit to one of the true highlights on this adventure. Bagakhangai.
This abandoned fighter jet base, just like Bayantal, has apartments outside it. However these apartments are still populated. The town of Bagakhangai is a bustling town in the middle of nowhere. We’ll visit this outpost of civilisation, before entering the air base to explore the hangers, engineering sheds, control towers, and offices long since abandoned by the Soviet Air Force.
Baganuur
As we near Ulaanbaatar we’ll head to one of the greatest highlights on this adventure.
The small town of Baganuur, just outside the city, was founded as a mining town, and also as the home of the 15,000-strong 12th motorised rifle division.
We’ll clamber around the apartment officer apartments, discovering newspaper on the walls, murals in bedrooms, tiled walls, and wallpaper that still remains in this abandoned rooms.
This base was expansive, covering a huge area of steppe, and so we’ll venture through it all finding Soviet murals, and other smaller buildings dotted around the place.
