ABSTRACT
The history of Mongolia from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries represents a period which has long been of interest to specialists of Mongolian studies and which has been extensively researched. This does not mean, however, that historians have been able to reach a common opinion concerning this period. There are still a great many of unexplained questions that arise not so much from the scanty empirical material available as from the differing criteria of evaluation. An analysis of these differing means of evaluation is a prerequisite for an exact understanding of the character of the course of Mongolian history. In describing a feature of history, the historian is of course guided by his own objectives. The various viewpoints for the description of the period of the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries in Mongolia are further influenced by two factors. The first is spatial: when a people leaves deep tracks in the history of another people, the formers development must be taken into account in the historiography of the latter. The second factor is temporal: with the emergence of a new politico-historical phase of a people, the way of viewing historical phenomena often changes. On account of these factors the dynamics of this period of Mongolian history is complicated and multi-layered, and it is precisely this which will be the subject of our research.
