TY - JOUR
T1 - 'An Ambiguous Area’: Mongolia in Soviet-Japanese relations in the mid-1930s
AU - BRIDGES, Brian
N1 - This article is a much-revised and updated version of a paper previously presented at the International Centre for Economic and Related Disciplines at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which is available as International Studies discussion paper 1982/II. I am grateful for the helpful comments by Professor Ian Nish and colleagues at the original symposium and by the three anonymous reviewers of this journal.
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) became the focus of intense competition between the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1930s, when it was more commonly known as Outer Mongolia. The Soviet Union viewed the MPR as an ideological and strategic ally, and was determined to defend that state against the increasingly adventurist actions of the Japanese military based in northern China. Japanese ambitions to solve the so-called ‘Manmo’ (Manchuria-Mongolia) problem led the Soviets to initiate ever-closer links with the MPR, culminating in the 1936 pact of mutual assistance which was intended to constrain Japanese pressure. Using unpublished Japanese materials as well as Russian and Mongolian sources, this article demonstrates how the Soviet leadership increasingly viewed the MPR as strategically crucial to the defence of the Soviet Far East.
AB - The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) became the focus of intense competition between the Soviet Union and Japan in the 1930s, when it was more commonly known as Outer Mongolia. The Soviet Union viewed the MPR as an ideological and strategic ally, and was determined to defend that state against the increasingly adventurist actions of the Japanese military based in northern China. Japanese ambitions to solve the so-called ‘Manmo’ (Manchuria-Mongolia) problem led the Soviets to initiate ever-closer links with the MPR, culminating in the 1936 pact of mutual assistance which was intended to constrain Japanese pressure. Using unpublished Japanese materials as well as Russian and Mongolian sources, this article demonstrates how the Soviet leadership increasingly viewed the MPR as strategically crucial to the defence of the Soviet Far East.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071422284&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0026749X1800015X
DO - 10.1017/S0026749X1800015X
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 0026-749X
VL - 54
SP - 730
EP - 758
JO - Modern Asian Studies
JF - Modern Asian Studies
IS - 3
ER -