The Baron’s Cloak, by Willard Sunderland, focuses on the life story of Baron von Ungern- Sternberg, a Russian military officer. His life gives historical details of what the Russian borderlands were like because he was born in the borderlands, then spent much of his career in the borderlands and would eventually be executed after being captured in the borderlands. He fought on three major fronts like Poland, Lithuanian, and Romania; and against the Austria Hungarians, even though we has not born Russian. After World War I ended, the Russian Empire collapsed, leading to civil war. The Russian revolution came and disrupted Baron’s life because the civil war was between Communist Red Army and the Tsarist White Army. He took a stance against Bolshevik and pro-monarchy when he joined the White Army; until he left to become a Mongolian War Lord. Ungern was born in Graz, a borderland in the Habsburg Empire (Sunderland, p.
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18). Baron’s heritage is “antipasto” because he had more than one ethnicity, “Baltic German and Austria German;” but he spent most of his military career for the Russian empire (Sunderland, p.19). He may have spent his career with the Russians because the Russian way of life became to take over the Baltic region; therefore, Baron learned Russian because the nation-state of Russia want the residents to know Russian. He was the “first generation of Russification” to live in the “new East Asia” (Sunderland, p. 53). His military career took him to the eastern borders; where he encountered different cultures like, the Mongolians. Russia shared “2,000 miles with Mongolia”, therefore, Baron taught himself the Mongolian language so he could communicate with the people (Sunderland, p.105). The Baron's life on the Russian borders and the challenges that were present along the borders help give historians an idea of what life was like in that region. The front lines were very confusing because of the “split between Austria, Germany, and Russia” (Sunderland, p, 127). Many different sides of the war wanted to promote nationalism in order to encourage “ethnic allegiances” and turning the people against the “others” (Sunderland, p, 127). Baron fought with the Russians in the Great War for three years. He was known to be on the borderlands most of his time; including, East Persia and Lithuania near the Neiman River (Sunderland, p, 135). Then in 1914, the Baron, moves to the Trans-Baikal Cossacks in the Far East; where the living and war was in desperate need of support. The Baron wrote “170 percent of its officers and 200 percent of its dragoons and Cossacks were lost” (Sunderland, p, 135). The violence had been uninterrupted for about three to four months, so as men died more …show more content…
Eventually, the Russian Empire was in the middle of a civil war between the Communist Red Army and the Tsarist White Army. The Baron joined the White Army. Throughout the civil war there was a lot of confusion as to what the Reds and Whites were based on. The Reds took control of “the middle of the country: the industrial and agricultural heartland of Europeans Russia, including the two capitals of Moscow and Petrograd” (Sunderland, p. 150). While the Whites controlled the “old imperial periphery, claiming a broad collar of territory from the Baltic, Ukraine, and southern Russia in the west to Siberia and Turkestan in the east” (Sunderland, p,
18). Baron’s heritage is “antipasto” because he had more than one ethnicity, “Baltic German and Austria German;” but he spent most of his military career for the Russian empire (Sunderland, p.19). He may have spent his career with the Russians because the Russian way of life became to take over the Baltic region; therefore, Baron learned Russian because the nation-state of Russia want the residents to know Russian. He was the “first generation of Russification” to live in the “new East Asia” (Sunderland, p. 53). His military career took him to the eastern borders; where he encountered different cultures like, the Mongolians. Russia shared “2,000 miles with Mongolia”, therefore, Baron taught himself the Mongolian language so he could communicate with the people (Sunderland, p.105). The Baron's life on the Russian borders and the challenges that were present along the borders help give historians an idea of what life was like in that region. The front lines were very confusing because of the “split between Austria, Germany, and Russia” (Sunderland, p, 127). Many different sides of the war wanted to promote nationalism in order to encourage “ethnic allegiances” and turning the people against the “others” (Sunderland, p, 127). Baron fought with the Russians in the Great War for three years. He was known to be on the borderlands most of his time; including, East Persia and Lithuania near the Neiman River (Sunderland, p, 135). Then in 1914, the Baron, moves to the Trans-Baikal Cossacks in the Far East; where the living and war was in desperate need of support. The Baron wrote “170 percent of its officers and 200 percent of its dragoons and Cossacks were lost” (Sunderland, p, 135). The violence had been uninterrupted for about three to four months, so as men died more …show more content…
Eventually, the Russian Empire was in the middle of a civil war between the Communist Red Army and the Tsarist White Army. The Baron joined the White Army. Throughout the civil war there was a lot of confusion as to what the Reds and Whites were based on. The Reds took control of “the middle of the country: the industrial and agricultural heartland of Europeans Russia, including the two capitals of Moscow and Petrograd” (Sunderland, p. 150). While the Whites controlled the “old imperial periphery, claiming a broad collar of territory from the Baltic, Ukraine, and southern Russia in the west to Siberia and Turkestan in the east” (Sunderland, p,