Damdin Sükhbaatar Damdinii Sükhbaatar ( ; February 2 , 1893 – February 20 , 1923 ) was a founding member of the Mongolian People ' s Party and leader of the Mongolian partisan army that liberated Khüree during the Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921 . Enshrined as the " Father of Mongolia ' s Revolution " , he is remembered as one of the most important figures in Mongolia ' s struggle for independence . Early life . Sükhbaatar ( literally meaning " Axe hero " in the Mongolian language ) was born in present day Ulaanbaatar , the Chinese trading settlement some kilometers east of Ikh Khüree ( later Niislel Khüree , now Ulaanbaatar ) , as the third of four children . His parents had deserted their home banner in Setsen Khan aimag , and his father lived from odd jobs and as a day laborer . When Sükhbaatar was six , the family moved close to the Russia n consulate . It was from playing with the Russian children that he learnt to speak some Russian . At the age of 14 , Sükhbaatar had the opportunity to get an education , from Zaisan Jamyan . From the age of 16 onwards , he worked as a proxy rider ( at that time , people who were obliged to render certain services to the authorities often employed other people to replace them ) for several years . After Mongolia ' s first declaration of independence in 1911 , Sükhbaatar was drafted into the new nation ' s army . In the Bogd Khan ' s army . In 1912 , Russian advisers set up a military school at Khujirbulan , and Sükhbaatar was one of the soldiers transferred there . His talent for military tactics and his skills at riding and shooting earned him the respect of his comrades , and after the training he became a platoon leader of the machine gun company at Khujirbulan . In 1913 , he set up his own household with his wife Yanjmaa . They had had their first son in 1911 , but Yanjmaa ' s parents objected to the relationship on the grounds that Sükhbaatar was too poor . In late June 1914 , Sükhbaatar was involved in a soldiers ' riot against the bad living conditions and corruption in the army , but this episode seems to have had no negative repercussions for him . The so - called autonomous period was a rather unruly one , and in 1917 Sükhbaatar was deployed to Mongolia ' s eastern border , under the command of Khatanbaatar Magsarjav . In 1918 , the Mongolian government set up a printing office for printing law codes and Buddhist texts , and Sükhbaatar was transferred there . The office was led by Jamyan , so one reason for this transfer may have been that Sükhbaatar ' s name had been forwarded by his old teacher . Another reason may have been that Sükhbaatar ' s superiors wanted to keep him apart from the other soldiers . Chinese occupation . In 1918 - 1919 , as Russia struggled with revolution and civil war in the aftermath of World War I , the Chinese moved to re exert their rule of Outer Mongolia . Some nobles began negotiations with the Chinese amban Chen Yi on the subject of abolishing Mongolia ' s autonomy , and in autumn 1919 General Xu Shuzheng occupied Niislel Khüree and forced the Bogd Khan to sign an edict that incorporated Mongolia into the Republic of China . At about the same time , two secret groups that would later evolve into the Mongolian People ' s Party were founded , and Sükhbaatar was a member of one of them . After the Chinese takeover , the printing office was closed and the army dispersed , so Sükhbaatar became jobless . The two secret groups united in early 1920 , and began putting up posters in which they criticized the new rulers . They began gathering intelligence on the Chinese forces in Khüree , and on the attitudes of the Bogd Khan , other high lamas , and the upper nobles , towards the Chinese . Also , they established contacts with some revolutionaries among Khüree ' s Russian community . In mid - 1920 , several Comintern agents convinced the secret group to send a delegation to Irkutsk . Consequently , the group was renamed the Mongolian People ' s Party on June 25 , 1920 , and lots were drawn to see who would travel to Russia to obtain Soviet support . Danzan and Choibalsan left in early July , Bodoo and Chagdarjav followed in mid - July . On July 25 , the remaining group succeeded , via Da Lama Puntsagdorj , in obtaining a letter in which the Bogd Khan asked Soviet Russia for support against the Chinese . With this letter , Sükhbaatar , Darizavyn Losol and Dansranbilegiin Dogsom left for Russia in late July , 1921 . Sükhbaatar was in charge of smuggling the Bogd Khan ' s letter through the Chinese checkpoints , and the hollowed handle of his whip he used for this purpose is today displayed in a museum in Ulaanbaatar . People ' s Revolution . By August 19 , 1920 , the Mongolian delegates had all reached Irkutsk and met with a representative of the Soviet Russian Government , named Gapon . Gapon relayed that Soviet Russia was ready to help Mongolia , but that the delegates should explain what kind of government they wanted to establish , how they would fight against the foreign enemy , and what their future policy would be like . In early September , Danzan , Losol and Chagdarjav were sent on to Moscow via Omsk , while Sükhbaatar and Choibalsan were to remain in Irkutsk for military training and to maintain contact between the delegation in Moscow and Mongolia . Bodoo and Dogsom were sent back to Khüree . In the meantime , the Chinese had imprisoned a number of members and sympathizers of the secret group . In late 1920 , White Russian forces under the adventurer Baron Ungern had entered Mongolia from the east , and in late February 1921 occupied Niislel Khüree . Choibalsan and Chagdarjav were sent back into Mongolia to establish contacts with nationalist - minded nobles and other leaders . On February 9 , Sükhbaatar was appointed commander - in - chief of the Mongolian People ' s Partisan s . He began recruiting soldiers , and on February 20 the partisans had their first engagement with Chinese troops , followed by other encounters in the following days . At the founding congress of the Mongolian People ' s Party ( MPP ) at Kyakhta on March 1 – 13 , 1921 , Sükhbaatar was again appointed commander - in - chief and elected into the newly established provisional government . Immediately after the congress , the provisional government and the MPP central committee decided to liberate the Mongolian part of Khiagt from the Chinese troops , and on February 15 an ultimatum was sent to the Chinese military authorities in the town . The Chinese commanders refused to surrender , and on March 18 , Sükhbaatar ' s troops succeeded in taking the town , despite being heavily outnumbered . This day is now the official holiday of Mongolia ' s army , and is usually celebrated as the equivalent of Defender of the Fatherland Day in Russia , or the male version of International Women ' s Day . The provisional government moved to the Mongolian part of Khiagt and began to establish Ministries of the Army , Finances and Foreign Affairs , but when a fire in the aftermath of the battle burnt down the greater part of the town , the government moved on to Altanbulag . At the end of May 1921 , Khiagt came under pressure from Baron Ungern ' s forces , who moved towards Soviet Russia . This offensive was repulsed by mid - June , with the help of troops of the Far Eastern Republic . At the end of June , the People ' s Partisans and the Red Army decided to liberate Khüree . They reached the town on July 6 , having destroyed smaller groups of Ungern ' s forces on the way . On July 11 , a new government was proclaimed , with Sükhbaatar becoming Minister of the Army and the Bogd Khan ' s powers limited to those of a rather symbolic nature . Death . The new government was not in a secure position , and rumours of anti - communist plots cropped up . In 1922 , Bodoo , Chagdarjav , Da Lama Puntsagdorj and others were executed on allegations that they had collaborated with internal and external enemies of the new state . In early 1923 , amid official suspicions that a coup was planned for Tsagaan Sar , the state of alert became too exhausting for Sükhbaatar . He broke down on the night of February 14 / 15 , and died on February 20 . In the 1940s under Choibalsan ' s reign , it was alleged that Sükhbaatar had been poisoned , but later socialist publications did not explicitly discuss the cause of death . Nonetheless , this version is still somewhat popular in Mongolia . Mongolia ' s capital was renamed Ulaanbaatar ( " Red Hero " ) in 1924 . In 1954 , he was exhumed from his grave at Altan Ölgii National Cemetery and reinterred in the newly built mausoleum at Sükhbaatar square . When the mausoleum was dismantled in 2005 , he was cremated and his ashes buried in Altan Ölgii again . His cremation was supervised by Buddhist monks . Sükhbaatar ' s widow Yanjmaa went on to serve in a number of senior positions in the Mongolian government , including acting President . A statue of Sükhbaatar stands at Sükhbaatar Square in front of the government building in Ulaanbaatar today . Other places named after Sükhbaatar include Sükhbaatar Province , the capital of Selenge Province , and a district of Ulaanbaatar . Mongolian bank notes between 5 and 100 tögrög ( 1993 series ) feature an image of Sükhbaatar , with higher denomination notes bearing the portrait of Genghis Khan .