Focusing on the decade from 1911 to 1921, which saw near cataclysmic upheavals throughout much of Eurasia that led to the collapse of major empires from the Hapsburg to the Romanov to the Qing, but also witnessed the rise of youthful regimes from their ashes. Among the latter was Outer Mongolia, which renounced two centuries of vasslage to China and declared its intention to create an independent, Westernized nation. This book examines the political maneuverings of Chinese and Russians over Mongolia's fate.