Roman Von Ungern-Sternberg

Roman Von Ungern-Sternberg

Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg (Russian: Барон Ро́берт-Ни́колай-Максими́лиан Рома́н Фёдорович фон У́нгерн-Ште́рнберг) (December 29, 1885 NS – September 15, 1921) was a Lieutenant General in the Russian Civil War in Mongolia between 1918 and 1921. In February and March 1921 his troops wrested control of Mongolia from the occupying Chinese forces. His subsequent invasion of Southern Siberia to support anti-Bolshevik rebellions in June 1921 ultimately led to his defeat at the hands of the Red Army in August of that year. Although his surname was von Ungern-Sternberg, it is often incorrectly written as Ungern von Sternberg, after the first Soviet publications about him.

Ungern-Sternberg was an independent warlord in pursuit of pan-monarchist goals. These included restoring the Russian monarchy under Michael Alexandrovich Romanov and reviving the Great Mongol Empire under the rule of the Bogd Khan. Ungern-Sternberg fiercely combated those he viewed as his opponents, particularly Russian Bolsheviks. Following the collapse of his Asiatic Cavalry Division, Ungern-Sternberg's Russian officers abandoned him, and he was taken prisoner by the Red Army. He was tried and executed for his counter-revolutionary involvement in Novonikolaevsk in 1921. His eccentric orientalism and later conversion to Buddhism led to his reputation as the "Mad Baron" of Mongolia.