Damdin Sükhbaatar

(1893?-1923?). Born in 1893, probably in what is now Ulaanbaatar, Sukh (which means ‘ax’), as he was originally named, joined the Mongolian army in 1911. He soon became famous for his horsemanship, but was forced to leave the army because of insubordination. In 1917, he joined another army, found against the Chinese, and picked up the added moniker of baatar, or ‘hero’.

Mongolia remained part of China until 1911 A.D, when the collapse of dynastic rule in China allowed them to assert their independence. The Chinese, however, tried to reinforced their claim to Mongolia by an invasion in 1919 A.D. However, they were unsucessful largely due to the effort of Sukhbaatar. He stands today as a hero of the Mongolian people, when he as commander-in-chief of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army, defeated the Chinese with the help of the Soviet Union and declared Mongolia's independence from China.