On December 29, 1911, the Mongols seceded from the Manchu Empire, proclaimed their independence, and elevated Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu as the Emperor of Mongolia, ending 220 years of Manchu rule. The Mongols have almost forgotten at present the Eighth Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu who initiated, organized and led that historical event. He was vehemently decried and was given various names such as ‘the feudal’ and ‘the blind’ during Mongolia’s recent socialist past. He was even depicted until his death as a sworn enemy of Mongolia’s independence. An attempt was made in this work to show, as objectively as possible and on the basis of archival sources, the contribution of the Eighth Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, Mongolia’s last Emperor to the struggle for Mongolia’s independence, the commencement and culmination of Mongolia’s national revolution of 1911, the relationship between the Bogdo khaan and the People’s Government, the death of the Bogdo khaan and the attempts to identify his reincarnation and the confiscation of Bogdo’s properties. We should never forget that the Bogdo khaan was the leader of the Mongols’ religion, an Emperor who wielded power in both the state and church since 1911, an extraordinary leader and a father of Mongolia’s national revolution. This work will interest historians of Asia, Mongolia, Russia and, the Soviet Union, and those tracing the journey from empire to nation.

Prof. Batsaikhan Ookhnoi is working since 2000 at the Institute of Interna-tional studies, MAS. Graduted University of Irkutsk, Russia (1985), obtained PhD in Mongolian history on the topic "The national democratic course of development in Mongolia, 1921-1932" (1995) and Sc.D on the topic "Mongolian Independence and Kyakhta agreement of 1915 between China, Russia and Mongolia’ (1911-1916)" (2002) in Mongolian Academy of Sciences. He was a Visiting Professor at Cambridge University, UK (2010; 2025), Shimonoseki City University (2017), Humboldt Univer-sity (2004; 2015), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (2012), Tohoku University (2004-2005). His the recent publications, Ookhnoi, B. (2025). Developing a new national narrative for Mongolia: Grappling with the meaning of the 1921 ‘Mongolian people’s revolution.’ Asian Affairs, 56(4), 874–907. Russian Policy Towards Mongolia, 1911–1952: When Mongolia Fought the Red; Springer Verlag, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, ISBN-13: 9789819661855, 978-9819661855. "The Time of the Eighth Bogd Jebtsundamba as the climax of the Jebtsundamba institutions in (Halh) Mongolia", Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [En ligne], 55 | 2024, mis en ligne le 19 août 2024, consulté le 09 décembre 2025. Bogdo Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, The last emperor of Mongolia, UB: Admon, 2011 [2008], Second edition, revised. Diary of I.Ia.Korostovets, Russian Plenipotentiary in Mongolia in 1912-1913, Com. by Batsaikhan O. UB: Admon, 2009. Mongolian inde-pendence and Kiakhta Agreement of 1915 Between China, Russia and Mongolia. UB: Admon, 2002.