This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Allied forces’ – the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union – defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II in 1945. In the general historical narrative, this era marked the beginning of a rule-based international order but also a start of another long conflict: the Cold War. To Mongolia, however, the end of WWII in 1945 marked something more nationalistic. After the war, Mongolia declared its independence and sovereignty and began to establish itself diplomatically on the world stage. 
In commemoration of the 80th anniversary, President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa attended the military parade celebrating Victory in the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, Russia. The Mongolian delegation included Defense Minister Byambatsogt Sandag, and the Mongolian Army marched through Red Square as part of the parade. 
In his remarks, Khurelsukh recollected Mongolia’s support and contribution to the Soviet Union’s war with Nazi Germany since day one. Khurelsukh also visited the “War Horses” monument along with veterans who served in the war. The “War Horses” monument was built in 2015, on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, to commemorate Mongolia’s supply of horses – along with wool and fur – to the Soviet Union during the war.
Mongolian heads-of-state previously participated in the Victory Day celebrations on major anniversary years: in 1995 (late President of Mongolia Ochirbat Puntsag), 2005 (Enkhbayar Nambar), 2010 (Elbegdorj Tsakhia), and 2015 (also Elbegdorj). 
When people talk about Mongolia, there is a tendency, whether intentional or unintentional, to reduce the country to the shadow of its two large neighbors: Russia and China. Sometimes the result is an obscured understanding of Mongolia’s historical significance and why certain global turning points – such as the Yalta Agreement – were history-making for Mongolia’s own political experience. Two such major events shaped Mongolia’s foreign policy, and its national identity, during the end of World War II. 
In February 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met for the Yalta Conference. According to the U.S. State Department’s summary, “At Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and all three agreed that, in exchange for potentially crucial Soviet participation in the Pacific theater, the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria following Japan’s surrender.” 
This agreement also involved Outer Mongolia, which had declared independence from China in 1924 but was not yet widely recognized as a state. At Yalta, Stalin asked his wartime allies – the United States and the United Kingdom – to consent to Outer Mongolia’s maintaining of its “status quo.” Notably, China, then ruled by the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, was not represented at the Yalta Conference.
It would be historically accurate to state that the Yalta Agreement, and the events that followed, decided Mongolia’s fate.
In August of 1945, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was signed. The agreement viewed Mongolia as a geostrategic buffer zone. Mongolian diplomat and historian Bayarkhuu Dashdorj wrote that accepting Mongolia’s sovereignty was one of the three things Stalin had demanded from his Chinese counterpart. Chiang, for his part, had tried to wrest back nominal control over Outer Mongolia, in exchange for offering “high autonomy” and allowing the positioning of Soviet troops in the territory. But Stalin refused Chiang’s “request to return the Mongolians to the Chinese sovereignty.” 
Two months after the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty, in October 1945, a national referendum declared Outer Mongolia an independent country, creating the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR.) 
Mongolia’s alliance with the Soviet Union in both fronts of the war – against Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany – played a pivotal role to convince Joseph Stalin to support Mongolia’s independence. Stalin wanted to maintain that close relationship. To the Soviet Union, the Mongolia-Manchuria border was also both a strategic location as well as a point of vulnerability. Thus, Mongolia’s independent status was extremely important to the Soviets to protect their own borders against foreign invasion. 
The Mongolian leaders seized on this specific historical moment to cement their country’s independence by utilizing diplomacy and geopolitical mechanisms. In Mongolia, this feat is recognized and celebrated as a victory for national identity and determination. What Mongolia celebrates in May is not only the Allied Forces’ defeat of Nazi Germany, but also its own historical turning point that changed Mongolia’s international presence once and for all. The agreement by the major powers to maintain the existence of an independent Outer Mongolia forced Chiang to acquiesce. The October 1945 referendum ended an era of uncertainty. 
Many Mongolian historians and scholars argue that it was Mongolia’s own global diplomacy that allowed the country to be active on a world stage, thus convincing the great powers to see the significance of Outer Mongolia
While Mongolia recognizes the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII and the year that marked the country’s independence, Ulaanbaatar is also aware that geopolitical circumstances are once again changing rapidly. The former allied forces – the U.S., the U.K., and Russia – that defeated Nazi Germany are no longer allies; their partnership fell apart almost immediately after the war. Today, relations between Russia and Europe are at their worst in decades due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
Against that backdrop, Mongolia’s foreign policy continues to protect its national interests and recognize the traditional value of historical diplomacy, as evidenced by Khurelsukh’s visit to Moscow for Victory Day. However, Mongolia has evolved and modernized its way of foreign affairs and actively reaches out to its “third neighbor” partners as well. 
Given Mongolia’s landlocked position, balancing between China and Russia has always been a prerequisite for the successful application of its foreign policy agenda. Considering the current foreign and security issues, one can’t help but to wonder what global partnerships, and geopolitics will look like when the world celebrates the centennial anniversary of the end of World War II in 20 years. 
BY
Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

Published Date:2025-05-21