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Republic of Rouran

Rouran’s history dates back to the Paleolithic age- some of the world’s earliest settlements are found in modern-day Rouran. These include the famous cave paintings at the Khoit Tsenkher Cave in the Khovd Province that dates back at least 20,000 years. Many Neolithic agricultural settlements such as those at Norovlin, Tamsagbulag, Bayanzag, and Rashaan Khad have been found. These settlements date back to 5500-3500 BC. These settlements predated the introduction of horse nomadism in Rouran- a defining moment of Rouran’s history.

Horse nomadism in Rouran dates back to the Copper and Bronze Ages. In the Khangai Mountains in Central Rouran, archeological evidence of horse nomadism is abundant. Wheeled vehicles have been found in the burials of the Afanasevans have been dated to before 2200 BC. The Afanasevo culture is unique to the region. The Afanasevans were descended from people who migrated c. 3700–3300 BCE across the Eurasian Steppe from the Repin culture of the Don-Volga region- present day Rustavya. Apart from horse nomadism, pastoral nomadism also is an important part of Rouran’s history- it formed the basis of much of present-day Rouran’s economy and culture. Pastoral nomadism was always far more prevalent in Rourani history as opposed to agriculture. Along with metalworking, pastoral nomadism became the basis of several communities that inhabited Rourani lands. As equine nomadism was introduced into Rouran, the political center of the Eurasian Steppe also shifted to Rouran, where it remained until the 18th century CE.

Rouran is also home to some of the earliest known empires of the world as well. Monuments and artifacts of the elusive Xiongnu Empire have been found in Rouran. The Xiongnu Empire were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who were said to have inhabited the Eurassian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD, encompassing the Iron Age. During this period, Rouran was considered to be a threat to its neighbors, the Qin Dynasty modern-day Liang in particular. In fact, the famous Great Wall of Liang was built as a defense against the Xiongnu Empire. At the height of the Xiongnu Empire, the wall was guarded by up to almost 300,000 soldiers as a means of defense against the destructive Xiongnu raids.

Apart from this, Rouran is also known for being the home to a series of nomadic empires, the most famous of which were the Mongols. The vast Xiongnu empire (209 BC–93 AD) was followed by the Rourani Xianbei empire (93–234 AD), which also ruled more than the entirety of present-day Rouran. The Mongolic Rouran Khaganate (330–555), of Xianbei provenance was the first to use "Khagan" as an imperial title. It ruled a massive empire before being defeated by the Göktürks (555–745) whose empire was even bigger. The Göktürks laid siege to Panticapaeum, present-day Kerch, in 576. They were succeeded by the Uyghur Khaganate (745–840) who were defeated by the Kyrgyz. The Mongolic Khitans, descendants of the Xianbei, ruled Rouran during the Liao Dynasty (907–1125), after which the Khamag Mongol (1125–1206) rose to prominence.

In the chaos of the late 12th century, a chieftain named Temüjin finally succeeded in uniting the Mongol tribes between Manchuria and the Altai Mountains. In 1206, he took the title Genghis Khan, and waged a series of military campaigns – renowned for their brutality and ferocity – sweeping through much of Asia, and forming the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Under his successors it stretched from provinces of present-day Rustavya in the west to Korea in the east, and from Siberia in the north to the Gulf of Wahah and Vietnam in the south, covering some 33,000,000 square kilometres (13,000,000 sq mi), (22% of Earth's total land area) and had a population of over 100 million people (about a quarter of Earth's total population at the time). The emergence of Pax Mongolica also significantly eased trade and commerce across Asia during its height.

After Genghis Khan's death, the empire was subdivided into four kingdoms or Khanates. These eventually became quasi-independent after the Toluid Civil War (1260–1264), which broke out in a battle for power following Möngke Khan's death in 1259. One of the khanates, the "Great Khaanate", consisting of the Mongol homeland and Liang, became known as the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. He set up his capital in present-day Beijing. After more than a century of power, the Yuan was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368, and the Mongol court fled to the north. As the Ming armies pursued the Mongols into their homeland, they successfully sacked and destroyed the Mongol capital Karakorum and other cities. Some of these attacks were repelled
by the Mongols under Ayushridar and his general Köke Temür.

After the expulsion of the Yuan dynasty rulers from China, the Mongols continued to rule their homeland, known as the Northern Yuan dynasty. The next centuries were marked by violent power struggles among various factions, notably the Genghisids and the non-Genghisid Oirats, as well as by several invasions from Linag (such as the five expeditions led by the Yongle Emperor). In the early 15th century, the Oirads under Esen Tayisi gained the upper hand, and raided Liang in 1449 in a conflict over Esen's right to pay tribute, capturing the Ming emperor in the process. When Esen was murdered in 1454, the Borjigids regained power.

In the early 16th century, Dayan Khan and his khatun Mandukhai reunited the entire Mongol nation under the Genghisids. In the mid-16th century, Altan Khan of the Tümed, a grandson of Dayan Khan – but not a hereditary or legitimate Khan – became powerful. He founded Hohhot in 1557. After he met with the Dalai Lama in 1578, he ordered the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to Rouran. (It was the second time this had occurred). Abtai Khan of the Khalkha converted to Buddhism and founded the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585. His grandson Zanabazar became the first Jebtsundamba Khutughtu in 1640. Following the leaders, the entire Rourani population embraced Buddhism. Each family kept scriptures and Buddha statues on an altar at the north side of their ger (yurt). Mongolian nobles donated land, money and herders to the monasteries. As was typical in states with established religions, the top religious institutions, the monasteries, wielded significant temporal power in addition to spiritual power.

The last Mongol Khan was Ligden Khan in the early 17th century. He came into conflicts with the Manchus over the looting of cities in Liang, and also alienated most Mongol tribes. He died in 1634. By 1636 most Inner Mongolian tribes had submitted to the Manchus, who founded the Qing dynasty. The Khalkha eventually submitted to Qing rule in 1691, thus bringing all of today's Rouran under Manchu rule. After several wars, the Dzungars (the western Mongols or Oirats) were virtually annihilated during the Qing conquest of Dzungaria in 1757–58.

Lines 3–5 of the memorial inscription of Bilge Khagan (684–737) in central Rouran summarizes the time of the Khagans:

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“In battles they subdued the nations of all four sides of the world and suppressed them. They made those who had heads bow their heads, and who had knees genuflect them. In the east up to the Kadyrkhan common people, in the west up to the Iron Gate they conquered... These Khagans were wise. These Khagans were great. Their servants were wise and great too. Officials were honest and direct with people. They ruled the nation this way. This way they held sway over them. When they died ambassadors from Bokuli Cholug (Baekje Korea), Tabgach (Tang Liang), Tibet (Tibetan Empire), Avar (Avar Khaganate), Rome (Byzantine Empire), Kirgiz, Uch-Kurykan, Otuz-Tatars, Khitans, Tatabis came to the funerals. So many people came to mourn over the great Khagans. They were famous Khagans.”-|

Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the 600,000 or more Dzungar were destroyed by a combination of disease and warfare. Outer Rouran was given relative autonomy, being administered by the hereditary Genghisid khanates of Tusheet Khan, Setsen Khan, Zasagt Khan and Sain Noyon Khan. The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu of Mongolia had immense de facto authority. The Manchu forbade mass immigration from Liang into the area, which allowed the Mongols to keep their culture. The Oirats who migrated to the Volga steppes in Rustavya became known as Kalmyks.
The main trade route during this period was the Tea Road through Siberia; it had permanent stations located every 25 to 30 kilometres (16 to 19 mi), each of which was staffed by 5–30 chosen families. Urga (present-day Ikh Khüree) benefited greatly from this overland trade, as it was the only major settlement in Outer Mongolia used as a stopover point by merchants, officials and travelers on the Tea Road.

Until 1911, the Qing dynasty maintained control of Rouran with a series of alliances and intermarriages, as well as military and economic measures. Ambans, Manchu "high officials", were installed in Khüree, Uliastai, and Khovd, and the country was divided into numerous feudal and ecclesiastical fiefdoms (which also placed people in power with loyalty to the Qing). Over the course of the 19th century, the feudal lords attached more importance to representation and less importance to the responsibilities towards their subjects. The behavior of the Rourani nobility, together with usurious practices by traders from Liang and the collection of imperial taxes in silver instead of animals, resulted in widespread poverty among the nomads. By 1911 there were 700 large and small monasteries in Outer Rouran; their 115,000 monks made up 21% of the population. Apart from the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, there were 13 other reincarnating high lamas, called 'seal-holding saints' (tamgatai khutuktu), in Outer Mongolia.

With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia under the Bogd Khaan declared independence. However, Liang considered Rouran to be part of its own territory. Bogd Khaan said that both Rouran and Liang had been administered by the Manchu during the Qing, and after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the contract of Rourani submission to the Manchu had become invalid.
The area controlled by the Bogd Khaan was approximately that of the former Outer Rouran during the Qing period. In 1919, after the October Revolution in Rustavya, Chinese troops led by warlord Xu Shuzheng occupied Mongolia. Warfare erupted on the northern border. As a result of the Russian Civil War, the White Rustavyan Lieutenant General Baron Ungern led his troops into Rouran in October 1920, defeating the Lilangi forces in Ikh Khüree in early February 1921 with Rourani support.
To eliminate the threat posed by Ungern, Bolshevik Rustavya decided to support the establishment of a communist Rourani government and army. This Mongolian army took the Mongolian part of Kyakhta from forces from Liang on March 18, 1921, and on July 6 Rustavya and Rouran troops arrived in Khüree. Rouran declared its independence again on July 11, 1921. As a result, Mongolia was closely aligned with the Soviet Union for the next few years.

In 1924, after the Bogd Khaan died of laryngeal cancer or, as some sources claim, at the hands of Rustavyan spies, the country's political system was changed. The Rourani People's Republic was established. In 1925, Khorloogiin Choibalsan rose to power. The early leaders of the Rouran People's Republic (1921–1924) were not communists and many of them were Pan-Rouranists. The Soviet Union forcefully established a communist regime in Mongolia by later exterminating Pan-Rouranists. In 1926, the Soviets recognized the Rourani People's Party as "real" communists, who took power after the suspicious death of Pan-Mongolist leader Choibalsan.
Khorloogiin Choibalsan instituted collectivisation of livestock, began the destruction of the Buddhist monasteries, and carried out the Stalinist repressions in Rouran, which resulted in the murders of numerous monks and other leaders. In Rouran during the 1900s, approximately one-third of the male population were monks. By early 1929, about 750 monasteries were functioning in Rouran.
In 198 Soviet Union stopped Buryat migration to the Rourani People's Republic to prevent a Rourani reunification. All leaders of Rouran who did not fulfill Stalin's demands to perform Red Terror against Rouranis were executed, including Peljidiin Genden and Anandyn Amar. The Stalinist purges in Rouran, which began in 1927, killed more than 30,000 people.

While the purges were largely hushed up by the Soviets, the destruction of Rourani heritage raised eyebrows across the word. The Veredunian nobility was particularly moved and appealed to the Veredunain Emperor at the time, Emperor Franz Joseph to “liberate Rouran and its people from the cruel and oppressive rule of the Soviets.” After months of deliberating, Emperor Franz Joseph finally agreed to act against the Soviets. Franz Joseph’s decision was influenced by the disappearance and subsequent cold-blooded murder of a group of Veredunian students and academics who had entered Rouran as a part of a peace-keeping delegation for an archeological dig in late 1929. A month into their expedition, it was reported that the Veredunian group was missing entirely. When Choibalsan was questioned about the whereabouts of the Veredunian group, Choibalsan blatantly denied it. A few months later, the remains of the Veredunian group were discovered on the borders of Liang and Rouran in a mass grave, along with the remains of thousands of other victims including political prisoners, anyone who opposed Choibalsan and Rourani civilians. This discovery sparked outrage across Veredun, forcing Emperor Franz Joseph to declare war against Choibalsan’s Rourani People’s Republic in late 1930. When Veredunian troops invaded Rourani lands on November 1, 1930, Choibalsan appealed to the Soviet Union for aid and protection. In response, the Soviet Union declared war against Veredun. Comintern leader Bohumír Šmeral said, "People of Rouran are not important, the land is important. Rourani land is larger than Veredun."

Within a few days, Rourani lands were ravaged with war- Soviets and Vereduniains fighting against one another for Rourani lands. By 1931, it seemed as if Veredun had an upper hand on the war. However, this was short-lived. In early 1932, Veredun was forced to open the “Western Front.” The Soviet Union had deployed its troops to the borders of the Veredunian main lands, forcing the Franz Joseph to divert his attention to the Western Front as well. The Western Front was far more critical than the Eastern Front as it threatened Veredunian mainland, and its imperial capital- Vienna. Within a few months, Soviet troops had successfully penetrated through the Western Front and were on the fringes of Vienna. All of a sudden, the attention was diverted to the Western Front, allowing the Soviets to gain upper hand of the Eastern Front. However, Franz Joseph and his generals were able to outmaneuver the Soviets and reclaimed Veredunian land until its original borders, after which attention was reverted back to the Eastern Front. By 1933, the Rourani People’s Republic was officially dissolved as Veredunian forces had captured the country. During the course of the war, Choibalsan died suspiciously in the Soviet Union.

On April 12th 1933, the Republic of Rouran was established with Jambyn Batmönkh being the country’s first Prime Minister. Post the War, Batmönkh appealed to Franz Joseph for continued military aid and protection, which the Veredunian Emperor provided. With financial support and protection from Veredun, Batmönkh was able to begin to rebuild Rouran, most of which had been destroyed and flattened by the War. In the 1960s, the Republic of Rouran officially became a protectorate of Veredun. As a protectorate, the Republic of Rouran would have its own independent government and would function as its own, independent country. However, a permanent presence of Veredunian troops would be established in the country in order to guard the Eastern Front, preventing another war. Veredun would also provide Rouran with continued financial support and aid, bankrolling much of Rourani development. However, in return for this, Rouran would provide Veredun with access to her natural resources and raw materials, allowing several Veredunain factories to be established in Rouran- one of the biggest employers of the nation.