Khorloogiin Choibalsan (8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was Prime Minister of the Mongolian People's Republic from 24 March 1939 to 26 January 1952, succeeding Anandyn Amar and preceding Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal. He was a communist leader, belonging to the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.
Biography[]
Khorloogiin Choibalsan was born in Achit Beysiyn, Qing China in 1895, and he initially studied to become a Buddhist monk before running away and working odd jobs. While living among the radicalized student population of Irkutsk in the Russian Empire, Choibalsan became a communist, and he co-founded the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in 1920 with the goal of resisting Chinese rule in Mongolia. His partisan forces fought against the Republic of China and the White Army during the creation of the Mongolian People's Republic, making him a party hero. From 1929 to 1930, he served as Chairman of the Presidium of the State Little Hural. In 1936, he became a Marshal of the Armed Forces.
As a general of the communist government, Choibalsan was one of the architects of the Great Purge in his country. He was referred to as "the Stalin of Mongolia" for overseeing Soviet-ordered purges in the late 1930s, targeting the Buddhist clergy, the intelligentsia, political dissidents, ethnic Buryats and Kazakhs, and other "counter-revolutionaries" in a purge that killed up to 35,000 people and virtually eliminated Buddhism in the country. His devotion to Stalin bound Mongolia closely to the USSR, which held deep economic, political, and military ties with the Mongolian government. Under Choibalsan's leadership, infrastructure and literacy rates improved, and the international recognition of Mongolia's independence expanded, especially after World War II. From 1939 to 1952, he served as the Prime Minister of Mongolia, holding complete power in the country. In 1949, Choibalsan broke with Stalin due to Stalin's failure to support Choibalsan's dream of a "Greater Mongolia", and Choibalsan rejected Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal's suggestion of following in the footsteps of Tannu Tuva in entering the USSR. He died of cancer in Moscow in 1952.