UngernSternbergs

The Ungern-Sternbergs, also written Ungern-Sternberg, are a Baltic German noble family. The surname arose in the late 17th or early 18th century when the Ungern and Sternberg lines were joined by dynastic marriage and the consolidation of Baltic lands, notably in Livonia (present-day Latvia and Estonia). Members of the family belonged to the Baltic German nobility and held estates and offices under the Russian Empire.

The most widely known member is Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1886–1921), a general in the Imperial Russian Army who led anti-Bolshevik campaigns during the Russian Civil War. His forces operated in Siberia and Mongolia, and he briefly occupied parts of Mongolia before his defeat and death in 1921. Because of his controversial actions and distinctive methods, the name Ungern-Sternberg is often associated with this period of upheaval in the region.

In the aftermath of the 1917 revolutions, the Ungern-Sternberg lineage faced the dissolution of many estates and displacement of families. Many descendants emigrated or otherwise reorganized their status as the Baltic German nobility declined in the new political order. Today the name persists in genealogical records and among descendants in Germany and other countries, but no longer corresponds to autonomous noble estates or titles in the former Russian Empire.

The Ungern-Sternbergs are remembered for their place in the history of Baltic German aristocracy and their connections to military and civil administration within the Russian Empire. The spelling and usage of the name vary, with Ungern-Sternberg or Ungern-Sternbergs used in different sources.