Mongolia (Franco-American War)

The Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia is a theocratic, monarchist state in central-eastern Asia, directly in between Siberia and China. Its economy is predominantly agrarian, though it is a relatively stable, middle-income nation.

Mongol Empire
In the chaos of the late 12th century, a chieftain named Temüjin finally succeeded in uniting the Mongol tribes between Manchuria and the Altai. He took the name Genghis Khan in 1206, and waged a series of military campaigns, sweeping through much of Asia, and forming the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Under Khan's successors, the empire stretched from present-day Ukraine and Korea, and in the south bordering the Gulf of Oman and Vietnam. After Genghis Khan's death, the empire was subdivided into four Khanates. After the Toulid Civil War, these nations would become fully independent. One of the khanates, the "Great Khaanate", consisting of the Mongol homeland and China, setting up the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan, Genghis's grandson. The Yuan was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368, and the Mongol court fled to the north, but not before the Mongol capital Karakorum was sacked. The Mongols considered to rule their homeland, known as the Northern Yuan dynasty. The next centuries were marked by power struggles among various factions, mostly between Mongols and Oirats. The empire also faced numerous invasions by their southern neighbor, China. In the early 16th century, Dayan Khan and his khatun Mandukhai reunited the entire Mongol nation under the Genghisids. In the mid-16th century, Buddhism was introduced to the nation and the city of Hohhot was founded. After he met with Tibet's Dalai Lama in 1578, he ordered the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to Mongolia. Following the leaders, the entire Mongolian population embraced Buddhism. Each family kept scriptures and Buddha statues on an altar at the north side of their yurts. The last Mongol Khan was Ligden Khan in the early 17th century. His realm was conquered by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1691, leading to a little more than two centuries of Chinese rule over Mongolia.

Qing era
After numerous wars, the Dzungars (western Mongols/Oirats) were virtually annihilated during the Qing invasions from 1757-58. Some scholars estimate that around 80% of the Dzungars were annihilated during the Qing invasion of their homeland. Outer Mongolia retained decent autonomy, being administered by hereditary Genghisid khanates. The Qing forbade Chinese immigration to Mongolia, allowing the Mongols to keep their own culture. The main trade route during this period was the Tea Road through Siberia, which had permanent stations located every 25 to 30 kilometers. The Mongol capital of Ulaanbaatar greatly benefitted from this trade, and it was the only major settlement in outer Mongolia used as a stopover point by traders and merchants. Until 1911, the Qing maintained control of Mongolia with a series of alliances and intermarriages, as well as military and economic measures.

Modern history
After the fall of the Qing in 1911, Mongolia declared independence under Bogd Khaan. The area controlled by the Bogd Khaan was approximately that of the former Outer Mongolia during the Qing period. In 1919, after the October Revolution in Russia, Chinese troops were sent to and occupied Mongolia. However, with White aid, the Bogd Khaanate successfully won independence from China. Bogd died of cancer in 1926, but he had no successor; so the throne went to the Mongolian revolutionary Damdin Sükhbaatar took power as the Mongol king. He took steps towards secularism, trying to make Mongolia safer for minority religious groups. Sükhbaatar died in 1960, and the throne went to his wife, Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa, who controlled Mongolia until she died in 1966. After Yanjmaa died. The throne was intended to be transferred to one of her children, but Tibetan officials instead put a Mongolian spiritual leader, Jampal Namdröl Chökyi Gyaltsen in power. He nearly died in 2012 after an illness, although the lack of successors forced doctors to work long and hard to heal him. They succeeded, and he still rules over Mongolia to this day.