The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia

by James Palmer and James Palmer

Book Overview

In the history of the modern world, there have been few characters more sadistic, sinister, and deeply demented as Baron Ungern-Sternberg. An anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, Baron Ungern-Sternberg took over Mongolia in 1920 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese, and native Mongolians. While tormenting friend and foe alike, he dreamed of assembling a horse-borne army with which...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465022073
• ISBN13: 9780465022076
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A fascinating chapter in the Russian Civil War

In a war which saw the rise and fall of governments, countries and even a federation or two the story of Ungern-Sternberg is exceptional. A baron of German origins, a faithful soldier to Czar Nicholas II and a Buddhist he managed to get a reputation for cruelty in a war reknowned for its cruelty. He fought for the White cause against Bolshevism and then sought to become the ruler of Mongolia, a country he had come to know and admire. If this story was a novel you would dismiss it as melodramatic. But the Bloody Baron was real and he carved his own place in history, even if it is a fairly unknown place today.

The Bloody White Baron

A very well written and informative book. I am a studier of history -- and I had never heard of this person.

Precursor to the horrors of the 20th century

James Palmer takes an obscure and violent figure from the back of beyond -- Urga in Mongolia in the early 1920s -- and weaves a compelling story that helps put in perspective the bloody excesses of the 20th century. Baron Ungern-Sternberg was born Nikolai Roman Maximilian, an outsider in Estonia and Russia who was only at home in time of war, when his thirst for bloody vengeance was socially acceptable. He ended up fighting with the Whites in the Far East, Russian exiles opposing the Bolsheviks just after the Russian Revolution. Ungern was a psychopath, to put it bluntly, yet managed to rally an army that overran the Chinese then dominating a newly independent Mongolia. He then tried to take on the Red Army, all in his vision of restoring monarchy the world over. Ungern's sadistic violence, combined with a pathological anti-Semitism, clearly mark him as a figure foreshadowing the rise of Hitler, a parallel that Palmer makes clear. But this book is more than just a biography of Ungern: it encompasses the history of a corner of Asia that is seldom in the limelight, seldom given more than scant attention in the West, even though it was a center for vajrayana Buddhism, almost the equal of Tibet. Palmer does it with writing that is crisp, always moving the narrative along smoothly, even as he has to explain rather esoteric history. Highly recommended. After reading this book, I went back to Harry Franck's Wandering in Northern China (Century Company: 1923), in which he describes being in Urga in late 1922, a year and a half after Ungern departed the scene: a fascinating complement to this powerful book.

The Bloody White Baron

This book brings before the American public a previously obscure page of history. The author displays a good command of history, overall. However, one error I found was that Wrangel evacuated the Crimea in 1920, not 1919. The book is well-written and the material is thoughtfully structured.

The Bloody White Baron; A Bloody Good Read

As a college student and a history major I was attracted to this title by reading the glowing review that it received in the New York Times Book Review (Yes, there is somebody under 25 who still reads newspapers). I was not disappointed. This book tells the story of Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a Russian born Baltic German (from what is now Estonia) who becomes an officer in the army of the Russian Empire. After a series of disastrous starts in the Russo-Japanese war, World War I and the Russian Revolution. He flees to Mongolia and helps them win independence from China. He meets his eventual demise at the hands of the Soviets. Although he is insane and horrendously tortures his troops, he managed for a long time keep them together and for a short time became the last Khan of Mongolia. Author, James Palmer, writes so vividly that you would swear that you are on the battlefield with Ungern when he is laying siege to Urga (now Ulaanbaatar). Not many people know that for a long time Mongolia was controlled by China and that Siberia was a battlefield for the Russian revolution against the Bolsheviks and the Whites. At times this book is wrenching though never boring. I am looking forward to Palmer's next book.