Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. This is
Speaker 1: the second part of our two part episode on Roman
Speaker 1: von ungern Sternberg, so if you haven't listened to part
Speaker 1: one yet, please start there. Why Roman von Ungernstenberg went
Speaker 1: to Mongolia in October of nineteen twenty remains a mystery.
Speaker 1: Historians now call his eight month stint in the area
Speaker 1: his Mongolian Campaign, but even that label is controversial. Willard
Speaker 1: Sunderland suggests that using the word campaign implies that Roman
Speaker 1: had quote a reason for being there. Instead, the decision
Speaker 1: was haphazard. Roman had originally intended to move west rather
Speaker 1: than east, to cut off the Red Army advancing on Cheetah,
Speaker 1: according to his military orders, but when he found out
Speaker 1: that the Reds had already taken the city, he had
Speaker 1: to change his plans, so he went rogue, leading what
Speaker 1: remained of the Asiatic Division of the White Army south
Speaker 1: across the Mongolian border. His forces included about eight hundred men,
Speaker 1: trailed by horses and a train of carts, covered wagons
Speaker 1: and pack animals. He would later tell the Reds that
Speaker 1: his plan was quote a product of happenstance and fate.
Speaker 1: It wasn't totally out of the question for him to
Speaker 1: go to Mongolia, since the Whites had an established military
Speaker 1: presence there, But what Roman did next had more to
Speaker 1: do with his own personal politics. He decided to conquer Erga,
Speaker 1: the capital of Mongolia. He concocted this plan in the
Speaker 1: heat of the moment after learning that the Chinese commander
Speaker 1: in Urga had arrested a group of white officers. Roman
Speaker 1: saw Erga as a quote red town, according to an
Speaker 1: account from Roman's aide de camp, because most of the
Speaker 1: Russians that lived there were Bolshevik sympathizers. Moreover, in nineteen nineteen,
Speaker 1: Chinese Republicans had invaded, holding the city under military occupation
Speaker 1: and putting the Boghda Khan under house arrest. To Roman,
Speaker 1: the Bolsheviks and Chinese Republicans were one and the same.
Speaker 1: He described the Chinese Republican leader Sun Yat Sen as
Speaker 1: quote that famous revolutionary Bolshevik. Even though Russia and China
Speaker 1: were often at odds, Roman saw his fight against socialist
Speaker 1: revolution as a personal crusade that disregarded borders and nations.
Speaker 1: He was going to take matters into his own hands,
Speaker 1: and he didn't care how much force he would need
Speaker 1: to use. I'm Danish worts and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: Roman tried to take over the Mongolian capital Urga three times.
Speaker 1: The first two times in October and November of nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty his army was defeated by the Chinese. Then he
Speaker 1: took a few months over the winter to regroup, stocking
Speaker 1: up guns and other supplies from Manchuria and recruiting additional soldiers.
Speaker 1: There were many disaffected Mongolians who were sympathetic to Roman's cause,
Speaker 1: lamas and nobles who wanted to free the Baghda nationalists
Speaker 1: that wanted to kick the Chinese out of the country.
Speaker 1: There were even some stray white officers and Sarist officials
Speaker 1: around the area who were willing to join Roman's forces.
Speaker 1: And I should be clear when I say white in
Speaker 1: this case, I mean the white army as opposed to
Speaker 1: the red Bolshevik army, the white anti Bolshevik forces, not
Speaker 1: with any respect to race or nationality. In February nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty one, with five thousand men, Roman descended on Erga
Speaker 1: in broad daylight. He rescued the Bogda from house arrest
Speaker 1: and occupied the city. By the end of the month,
Speaker 1: the Chinese had withdrawn entirely. Erga was his Roman reinstalled
Speaker 1: the Bogda as the national ruler, and in return, the
Speaker 1: Bogda gave him the title of Great Hero General builder
Speaker 1: of the state, and the privilege of wearing a three
Speaker 1: eyed peacock plume in his Manchu style velvet cap, a
Speaker 1: symbol of the highest nobility. You have taken Erga, one
Speaker 1: Mongol leader wrote to Rome Roman not long after his
Speaker 1: titling ceremony, Your good deed shall shine across the world
Speaker 1: like the rays of the sun. Tacitly, working under the Boghda,
Speaker 1: Roman's men repaired roads and bridges, reopening the printing press
Speaker 1: and electric plant. Roman seized gold and valuables from Russian
Speaker 1: and Chinese banks and confiscated cars, cannons, rifles, and machine
Speaker 1: guns to shore up his army. But he didn't stop there.
Speaker 1: Upon taking over Urga, Roman launched a pogrom, giving his
Speaker 1: men three days to quote eliminate any Jews and Reds
Speaker 1: they found in Erga. The whites already had lists of
Speaker 1: Jewish families and others they determined to be Bolshevik quote sympathizers.
Speaker 1: While some Jewish people managed to hide or escape the city,
Speaker 1: over three hundred people were killed during Roman's three day rampage.
Speaker 1: One person who managed to escape Urga gave an interview
Speaker 1: to a Bolshevik newspaper describing how Romans men hunted down
Speaker 1: entire Jewish households, slaughtering even their farm animals. By the
Speaker 1: end of Romans campaign, Erga's tiny Jewish community essentially ceased
Speaker 1: to exist. Roman's anti Semitism was deeply rooted in his
Speaker 1: time in the Russian Army, going back to his teenage years,
Speaker 1: when he witnessed the Estonian riots of nineteen o five.
Speaker 1: Aristocrats dismissed the legitimate grievances that fueled various early twentieth
Speaker 1: century rebellions by blaming them on Jewish manipulation. In nineteen
Speaker 1: o three, a tract called the Protocols of the Elders
Speaker 1: of Zion was published in Imperial Russia before spreading throughout
Speaker 1: Europe in the nineteen twenties and thirties. The pamphlet is
Speaker 1: a fabricated document that purported to lay out a Jewish
Speaker 1: plot for world domination by steering hapless peasants toward revolution.
Speaker 1: Roman believed this conspiracy wholeheartedly. Like other anti Semites in
Speaker 1: white military leadership, he saw socialists and Jews as one
Speaker 1: and the same. When asked later why he hated Jewish
Speaker 1: people so much, he replied, simply, they caused the revolution.
Speaker 1: He wrote that quote in their hearts, the people remained
Speaker 1: loyal to the Czar, faith and fatherland, but the Jewish
Speaker 1: menace had led them astray. Roman's reign of terror continued
Speaker 1: beyond that three day rampage. He set up a security
Speaker 1: office to find quote, unreliables and eventually executed them at
Speaker 1: what was considered one of the worst white torture chambers
Speaker 1: in the Russian Empire, which James Palmer wrote, quote was
Speaker 1: a considerable achievement in the brutal environment of the Civil War.
Speaker 1: This reputation attracted more sadistic officers, as Roman tacitly allowed
Speaker 1: his men to murder whoever they wanted without reproach. One
Speaker 1: official bludgeoned and drowned thirty one hostages in Lake Baikal
Speaker 1: and later earned the nickname quote the Strangler of trans Bacalia.
Speaker 1: Roman enforced military discipline with the utmost brutality for minor infractions,
Speaker 1: The most common punishment was a beating with a bamboo lash,
Speaker 1: and for serious infractions he sentenced his men to the
Speaker 1: death penalty. Roman imagined himself as a new Genghis. He
Speaker 1: wanted to unite the ethnic and religious groups of the
Speaker 1: region into a quote central Mongolian state, one that would
Speaker 1: stretch over most of the steppe region of central Eurasia
Speaker 1: from roughly the western edges of Manchuria to the Caspian Sea.
Speaker 1: This had almost nothing to do with Russia. In nineteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: the Russians had agreed to leave Mongolia alone, and the
Speaker 1: newly ascendant Bolsheviks had other priorities instead. This idea seemed
Speaker 1: like a relic from Roman's childhood, where he believed that
Speaker 1: native Estonians and Germans, like his own family, should submit
Speaker 1: to the ideals of whoever showed the strongest force, which
Speaker 1: just so happened to be Russia, but curiously diverging from
Speaker 1: the rest of the White Army. He also felt that
Speaker 1: those on the outskirts of the U Empire were superior
Speaker 1: to the Russians themselves. Roman believed that people like him
Speaker 1: who had grown up on the Imperial frontier, whether they
Speaker 1: were Mongols Cossacks or members of the nomadic step societies
Speaker 1: preserved a strength and purity that the center of Russia
Speaker 1: had lost. He figured that while Mongolia would be a
Speaker 1: mostly politically independent state, Russia would serve as a kind
Speaker 1: of feudal overlord, like a king ruling over his vassals.
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine how this plan would have actually
Speaker 1: worked in practice, but that was no problem for Roman.
Speaker 1: Most of his plans were pretty fuzzy and abstract anyway. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: Roman wanted to extend his territory by invading Kiakhta, a
Speaker 1: strategically placed town en route back to Siberia, creating a
Speaker 1: white stronghold in the region. He told a Chinese ally quote,
Speaker 1: all my efforts are directed to the north, where I
Speaker 1: shall move to break through to Russia as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: He distributed a formal manifesto known as Order Number fifteen,
Speaker 1: in which he expressed his desire to destroy communism and
Speaker 1: restore the Russian monarchy by appointing Czar Nicholas the Second's brother,
Speaker 1: the Grand Duke Michael, as the new ruler of the empire.
Speaker 1: A campaign against Siberia also made sense because Roman was
Speaker 1: vulnerable to attack in Erga, either by the Reds or
Speaker 1: the Chinese Kaki. From his victory in Erga, Roman thought
Speaker 1: that his next steps would be easy. He believed that
Speaker 1: anti Bolshevik sentiment in Siberia remained strong and that his
Speaker 1: invasion could inspire other uprisings across the area. Later, he
Speaker 1: said that his impending attack on the Reds would ignite
Speaker 1: a quote powder keg of popular resentment in Siberia that
Speaker 1: would gather these scattered White units still operating there into
Speaker 1: a single, unstoppable force. But by nineteen twenty one, the
Speaker 1: Red Army was much stronger than he had anticipated. The
Speaker 1: Whites had lost control of the trans Siberian Railway and
Speaker 1: dispersed east. Only a few stragglers remained. Roman's monarchist ambitions
Speaker 1: and sadistic reputation did not land well with the Russians
Speaker 1: still living in Siberia. Meanwhile, after Roman took over Erga,
Speaker 1: at least eight thousand Chinese soldiers and refugees had fled
Speaker 1: to Kiyakti, meaning he had even more opponents there than
Speaker 1: just the Russians. The Kalkas, the largest Mongolian subgroup, refused
Speaker 1: to work with Roman. Even the nobles of Erga feared
Speaker 1: Roman's threats to their privileges and were not entirely committed
Speaker 1: to his cause. Roman was aware of these obstacles. The
Speaker 1: daughter of a former Tsarist official recalled how her father
Speaker 1: tried to dissuade him from going to Kiakta by saying, quote,
Speaker 1: here you have fodder for the horses everything, whereas out
Speaker 1: there they will destroy you. But despite the warning, Roman
Speaker 1: went anyway. He had internalized his role in World War One,
Speaker 1: where the best soldiers went into battle even when the
Speaker 1: odds were stacked against them. His attack on Kiacta in
Speaker 1: May nineteen twenty one failed. His force was too small
Speaker 1: and poorly organized, and he couldn't get very far without
Speaker 1: local support. Roman spent the next three months on the
Speaker 1: road with his regiment, wandering aimlessly through Siberia and Mongolia.
Speaker 1: Even worse, the Red Army was closing in on him.
Speaker 1: They partnered with an army of Mongols and took over
Speaker 1: Ergo while Roman was away. The rest of Roman's men
Speaker 1: had already fled the capital by the time the Reds
Speaker 1: had arrived with no pushback. The invaders established a pro
Speaker 1: communist government while keeping the Bogda Khan on as a figurehead.
Speaker 1: As one Red Army writer put it, quote, Roman wanted
Speaker 1: to move against us, but the opposite occurred. We moved
Speaker 1: against him. By August, Roman's army was still wearily marching
Speaker 1: through Siberia. Resentments had been building. As Roman's plan it
Speaker 1: seemed harder and harder to grasp, let alone execute. Roman's
Speaker 1: brutality towards his own army, including regular beatings and executions,
Speaker 1: no longer inspired the same fear and discipline that it
Speaker 1: had back in Erga. Finally, one night, a few of
Speaker 1: Roman's officers snuck into his camp. They fired shots and
Speaker 1: tossed grenades at what they believed was his tent, but
Speaker 1: they had picked the wrong one and killed one of
Speaker 1: his orderlies instead. Hearing the commotion, Roman managed to escape.
Speaker 1: He hopped on his horse and rode into the woods.
Speaker 1: By mourning, he had run into his Mongol unit, and
Speaker 1: together they began marching west. But it turns out the
Speaker 1: Mongols were in on the assassination plan. After they lulled
Speaker 1: him into a false sense of security, they jumped him
Speaker 1: and tied him up. One Mongol soldier, perhaps exaggerating his
Speaker 1: role in deposing Roman, said that he distracted Roman by
Speaker 1: asking him for a light as they were riding. While
Speaker 1: Roman looked for a match. The soldier says he tackled
Speaker 1: Roman off his horse. In any case, Roman's once loyal
Speaker 1: army turned on him, capturing him and turning him in
Speaker 1: to the Reds. Roman expected that he would be executed
Speaker 1: rather than submit to the same kind of torture he
Speaker 1: perpetrated on his political enemies. He tried to take his
Speaker 1: own life multiple times while in captivity. He tried to
Speaker 1: drink the poison he always kept in his uniform pocket,
Speaker 1: but it fell to the ground out of his reach
Speaker 1: before he could grab it. He later tried to hang
Speaker 1: himself with a pair of horses reins, but they were
Speaker 1: too thick to budge. The Bolsheviks did not immediately call
Speaker 1: for Roman's execution. Instead, they brought him back to the
Speaker 1: western Siberian city of Nova Sybrisk for a trial. There
Speaker 1: was no doubt that he would be found guilty, and
Speaker 1: he had already admitted his guilt in their initial interrogation.
Speaker 1: His death seemed so inevitable that, citing a Soviet news bulletin,
Speaker 1: the New York Times reported his execution four days before
Speaker 1: his trial. Still, the Soviet government wanted to use Roman,
Speaker 1: who represented the most extreme version of the White cause,
Speaker 1: as an example. Thousands of onlookers filled the Summer Pine
Speaker 1: Theater on September fifteenth, nineteen twenty one to watch his trial.
Speaker 1: He arrived on stage in an embellished yellow kaftan, the
Speaker 1: same one he had worn when he had first invaded Mongolia.
Speaker 1: Because he had already admitted guilt, the prosecution did not
Speaker 1: spend much time grilling him about his military career. Instead,
Speaker 1: they attacked him personally. The prosecution asked if his family
Speaker 1: owned large estates in the Baltic to which Roman responded,
Speaker 1: probably not anymore. He then asked how long Roman's family
Speaker 1: had held its noble status, and Roman replied one thousand years.
Speaker 1: The prosecutor's closing argument extended this line of questioning. He
Speaker 1: said to the crowd, this trial of former Baron Ungern
Speaker 1: is not only a trial of the person of Baron Ungern,
Speaker 1: but a trial of an entire class of society that
Speaker 1: is accustomed to ruling and would not give up its
Speaker 1: power even if it were to mean the destruction of
Speaker 1: half of humanity. Baron Ungern, who sits here on the
Speaker 1: defendant's bench, is the main inspiration of countless others who
Speaker 1: are tearing to pieces not only the body of the
Speaker 1: Russian people, but of the peace peoples of the whole world.
Speaker 1: He ended his speech with his preferred verdict, the death penalty. Quote.
Speaker 1: This verdict must resound as a verdict of death on
Speaker 1: all noblemen who tried to raise their hands against the
Speaker 1: power of the workers and peasants, said the prosecutor. In
Speaker 1: the face of such an impassioned political speech, and given
Speaker 1: that Roman already pled guilty to the charges, the defense
Speaker 1: didn't have much to work with. They mounted a flimsy
Speaker 1: attempt to plead Roman's insanity, which Roman himself denied. Changing tactics,
Speaker 1: the defense suggested that Roman had never been a great
Speaker 1: danger to Soviet power in the first place. His attorney
Speaker 1: dismissed Roman's ambitions as quote chaos, the products of quote
Speaker 1: a sick imagination. But even the defense was resigned to
Speaker 1: Roman's execution, saying it would be the easiest way to
Speaker 1: end his sufferings, resembling the sympathy that we would show
Speaker 1: for a sick animal end quote. The judge gave Roman
Speaker 1: the last word before the verdict would be announced. He stated, simply,
Speaker 1: I cannot say anything more. Roman was sentenced to death
Speaker 1: by firing squad, and he was shot the next morning.
Speaker 1: Although both the prosecution and defense were ostensibly positioned against
Speaker 1: each other, their accounts of Roman's life work well together.
Speaker 1: Historians broadly agree with the defense's portrait of Roman, as
Speaker 1: to put it, mildly, a chaotic person. His poorly thought
Speaker 1: out plan in Mongolia was doomed from the start. He
Speaker 1: was neither a particularly dangerous threat to Bolshevik Soviets nor
Speaker 1: an asset to the Tsar. He was never a great tactics,
Speaker 1: a great leader, or even a great soldier. The only
Speaker 1: quality that his officers commended him for was his willingness
Speaker 1: to dive headfirst into seemingly fruitless missions, which overall didn't
Speaker 1: bode well for a long term military career. In the
Speaker 1: face of his apparent mediocrity, Roman clutched onto his aristocratic
Speaker 1: lineage for meaning. In every battle he fought in from
Speaker 1: World War One to his disastrous campaign in Mongolia, he
Speaker 1: believed that he was defending the monarchy. In his mind,
Speaker 1: hierarchy was the only thing preventing the world from devolving
Speaker 1: into utter disorder. This was certainly true for Roman himself.
Speaker 1: He had spent his entire life coasting on his elite status,
Speaker 1: refusing to do anything that seemed beneath him, even elementary
Speaker 1: school homework, any political eye, ideology or religion. He entertained
Speaker 1: worked downstream from his fundamental belief in his own superiority.
Speaker 1: Fitting then that the prosecution convicted him not for his
Speaker 1: actions as an individual, but as a symbol of his class. Ironically,
Speaker 1: the very thing that animated his life, his devotion to
Speaker 1: representing and defending his noble status, ultimately ended it. That's
Speaker 1: the story of the brutal Roman Ungern von Stenberg. But
Speaker 1: stick around to hear how Roman may have used fortune
Speaker 1: tellers to guide his military decisions. Roman Ungern von Stenberg was,
Speaker 1: by all accounts a superstitious person. A number of memoirs
Speaker 1: from his orderlies and contemporaries tell anecdotes about drawing playing
Speaker 1: cards and meeting with psychics in order to determine his
Speaker 1: next moves. He was even said to have included a
Speaker 1: number of fortune tellers and prophets in his retinue during
Speaker 1: his Mongolian campaign. Polish writer Ferdinand Osandowski, who traveled with
Speaker 1: Roman throughout Mongolia, wrote that Roman left Urga for Siberia
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty one, in part because of the interference
Speaker 1: of fortune tellers. Osandowski apparently accompanied Roman to see one
Speaker 1: fortune teller in Erga. According to him, quote, the fortune
Speaker 1: teller was a little woman of middle years who squatted
Speaker 1: down Eastern style before the brazier, bowed low and began
Speaker 1: to stare at baron Ungern. She drew a small bag
Speaker 1: very slowly from her girdle and took from it some
Speaker 1: small bird bones and a handful of dry grass. She
Speaker 1: began whispering at interval's unintelligible words as she threw occasional
Speaker 1: handfuls of grass into the fire, which gradually filled the
Speaker 1: tent with a soft fragrance. After the fortune teller had
Speaker 1: burned all of her grass, she placed the bird bones
Speaker 1: on the charcoal and turned them over again and again
Speaker 1: with a small pair of bronze pincers. As the bones blackened,
Speaker 1: she began to examine them, and then suddenly her face
Speaker 1: took on an expression of fear and pain. She said
Speaker 1: in fragments quote, I see, I see the god of war.
Speaker 1: His life runs out. And it was at that point
Speaker 1: that she fainted and was carried out by two of
Speaker 1: her assistants. A long silence followed. Apparently Roman got up
Speaker 1: and paced around the tent, saying to himself quote, I
Speaker 1: shall die. I shall die, but no matter, no matter,
Speaker 1: the cause has been launched and will not die. Nobody
Speaker 1: will extinguish the fire in the heart of the Mongols. Finally,
Speaker 1: apparently Roman raised his hand above his head, shouting, my
Speaker 1: time has come. In a little while, I shall leave Erga.
Speaker 1: With that, he exited the tent, slamming the irth door,
Speaker 1: and Osandowshka wrote that he never saw Roman again. It's
Speaker 1: hard to know what to make of this story. The
Speaker 1: memoir that we're citing is a dubious source full of
Speaker 1: sensational details and exaggerations. Historian James Palmer adds further ambiguity,
Speaker 1: floating the idea that the fortune teller in Osandowska's story
Speaker 1: may have been purposely trying to manipulate Rome. He wrote, quote,
Speaker 1: it's possible that the Mongolians played Ungern's own suspicions against him.
Speaker 1: Eager to see the city rid of his men, it
Speaker 1: would have been relatively simple and with some precedent, to
Speaker 1: influence the oracles to push him in a certain direction.
Speaker 1: End quote. Regardless of whether the story is true or
Speaker 1: whether the fortune teller was purposefuly manipulating him. The story
Speaker 1: aligns with how Roman viewed his military ambitions in extreme,
Speaker 1: almost religious terms. He believed he was fighting a holy
Speaker 1: war on behalf of the Czar, describing himself as someone
Speaker 1: who quote strongly trusts in destiny. Noble Blood is a
Speaker 1: production of Eye, iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz.
Speaker 1: Writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffey,
Speaker 1: Natasha Laski, and me Dana Schwartz. The show is edited
Speaker 1: and produced by Jesse Funk and Nomes Griffin, with supervising
Speaker 1: producer rima il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.