Mongolian People's Army

Mongolian People's Army Монголын Ардын Арми
Founded	1921 March 18
Dissolved	1992 February

The Mongolian People's Army (MPA), originally known as the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army (MPRA), was the military of the Mongolian People's Republic.

Founding

After returning to Mongolia from Irkutsk, Sükhbaatar organized 50 border Mongolian troops into a partisan detachment led by B. Puntsag. The First Party Congress of the MPRP in 1921 combined all the partisan soldiers into the People's Revolutionary Army, with Sükhbaatar as its commander-in-chief and Choibalsan as commissar.^:288–90

Revolution

On 1921 March 13, a congress of workers and partisans in Hiagt elected Sükhbaatar as Minister of War for the Provisional People's Government.^:293

On March 16, the Central Committee and Provisional People's Government sent a message to the 10,000 Chinese soldiers in Maimachen telling them to surrender. They did not respond, and the People's Army attacked two days later and defeated them, expelling the warlords from the country.^:293–4

On May 20, Ungern's forces advanced toward Hiagt and Altanbulag, the headquarters of the revolution. With the support of the Soviet Red Army, the People's Army defeated them and captured Ungern's commander Bayargun. The People's Revolutionary Army began marching toward Örgöö on June 27 and liberated it on July 8.On July 16, a permanent government formed with Sükhbaatar as Commander-in-Chief and Minister of War.^:297–300

Post-revolution

The 1924 Mongolian constitution introduced universal military training.^:318

Second World War

Due to Japanese expansion in the 1930s, the military budget increased from 34.7% of the state budget in 1934 to 52.5% in 1938, and the term of military service increased from two to three years.^:344–5

Publications

The MPA published the newspapers Ardyn Tsereg ('People's Warrior') from 1924 to 1927, Cultural Path of the Revolutionary Red Army from 1927 to 1930, and Ulaan Od ('Red Star') after 1930.