Meet Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg: The TikToker claiming bloodline to Mongolia's ‘God of War'

Time of India

4 days ago

Source: Instagram/@leonievungern
Some TikTok stories go viral for a dance. Some for a joke. And then there's Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg, whose quiet, aesthetically lit videos of sipping matcha and journaling suddenly sparked global interest when viewers learned of the blood-soaked legacy behind her name.
Leonie, 29, an MBA student living in Spain, wasn't expecting the internet to erupt over her last name. 'I posted that video and I went to sleep,' she told The New York Post. 'And the next day I woke up and I had a million views, which for me was surreal.'
That video, a lighthearted TikTok posted June 30, joked, 'All these people telling me I should reclaim the throne to Mongolia but I'm just a girl who drinks matcha.' It has since racked up over 2 million views — and stirred up a firestorm of commentary from amused millennials, curious historians, and disturbing far-right sympathizers alike.
Source: Instagram/@leonievungern
Legacy stained in blood
Leonie claims direct descent from Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, one of the 20th century's most brutal warlords, often referred to as 'the Bloody Baron', 'the Mad Baron', or even 'the God of War', nicknames earned through violence that even his enemies considered extreme.
Roman was a fiercely anti-Communist military commander who, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, led a violent crusade through Siberia and eventually into Mongolia.
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There, with support from loyalists to the Russian tsar, Mongol horsemen, and Japanese mercenaries, he seized control and declared himself ruler. He reportedly planned to rebuild a pan-Mongolian empire and then march on Moscow to overthrow the fledgling Soviet regime.
Historians credit him with expelling Chinese forces and briefly restoring Mongolian independence, but that's only one part of the story.
Ungern was known for cruelty that bordered on theatrical horror.
As The Post detailed, he 'devised sadistic tortures and painful deaths for his enemies, and even his followers who disobeyed him.' Victims were said to have been crucified with rusty nails, burned alive, or tied to treetops until they froze to death or fell out and were shot.
Leonie admits she grew up knowing little about him. 'I didn't know much,' she said. But the viral attention pushed her to explore the archives of her centuries-old family, whose lineage stretches back nearly 1,000 years.
'If a family is almost 1,000 years old, there is a chance that one or the other is going to … have done negative things throughout history,' she told The Post.
Source: Instagram/@leonievungern
"It's just a name that doesn't mean anything."
Despite the name, Leonie insists her day-to-day life is far from dynastic. 'It's not like I have this super-glamorous life and I'm a baroness,' she explained. 'No, it's just a name that in that context doesn't mean anything.'
'I've been working since I was 18,' she added.
'We were always raised in a very humble way.'
But the internet doesn't always do nuance. While many commenters treated her TikTok revelation as curious and even humorous, others latched onto her family history. 'I feel like I'm a case study on how a viral video can bring unwanted attention from ideologies that I personally don't align with,' she said. 'I've gotten a lot of comments … a lot of sexism … racism.'