In preparation for the peace conference that was to follow World War I, in the spring of 1917 the British Foreign Office established a special section with the responsibility of preparing background information that might be needed by British delegates to the conference. Under the leadership of Sir George W. Prothero, director of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office, experts were engaged to write briefs covering the geography, history, and economic, social, and political characteristics of countries and territories with which the delegates might be concerned. In all, more than 160 separate studies were produced on countries and territories in all parts of the world, as well as on general topics such as freedom of the seas, international rivers, and international congresses and conferences. Four volumes of maps also were produced. In 1919–20, as the Paris Peace Conference neared its end, the Foreign Office, responding to requests for information, decided to issue the studies for public use. This work, number 68 in the published series, covers the geography and political history of Mongolia, which had been the subject of complex diplomatic maneuvering among China, Russia, and Mongolia between 1911 and 1915.