Puppet state
A puppet state is a country that is officially independent, but not in practice. Puppet governments are usually kept in power by military force provided by an occupying country. Puppet state is a biased term. It is used to criticize the government of the alleged puppet state.
Examples[change | change source]
Examples of puppet states before World War II are:
- Far Eastern Republic (puppet state of the Soviet Union).
- Kingdom of Holland (puppet state of the First French Empire)
- Kingdom of Poland (1916-1918) (puppet state of the German Empire)
- Panama (puppet state of the United States)
- Grand Duchy of Warsaw (puppet state of the First French Empire)
World War II[change | change source]
In World War II the Axis countries created some puppet states, like:
- Kingdom of Albania (1939-1943, puppet state of Italy)
- Hungarian State of National Unity (1944-1945, puppet state of Nazi Germany)[1]
- Manchukuo (1932-1945, puppet state of the Empire of Japan)
- Croatia (1941- 1945, puppet state of Italy and Nazi Germany)
- Slovakia (1939-1945, puppet state of Nazi Germany)
- Vichy France (1940-1942, puppet state of Nazi Germany)
- Free State of Burma (1943-1945, puppet state of the Empire of Japan)
After Italy surrendered in World War II the Italian Social Republic was a puppet state created by Germany.
Cold War[change | change source]
During the Cold War (1945-1989) these Eastern European countries were puppet states of the Soviet Union:
- Bulgaria (U.S.S.R.)
- Czechoslovakia (U.S.S.R.)
- East Germany (U.S.S.R.)
- Hungary (U.S.S.R.)
- Romania (U.S.S.R.)
- Poland (U.S.S.R.)
- Albania (U.S.S.R., until 1961)
- Mongolia (U.S.S.R.)
- Yugoslavia (U.S.S.R., until 1948)
Next are economic puppets
- Austria (mostly in the east including Vienna and the old Soviet occupation zone until 1955) (U.S.S.R.)
In some of these countries the people overthrew the government, but each time they did that (before 1989) the Soviet Union and some of its other puppet states invaded and put the old government back in power. The Soviet Union had also some puppet states outside Europe, such as Mongolia. Some of these countries had more independence from the Soviet Union. For example, the Romanian government sided against the Soviets when they went into Czechoslovakia.
The United States also had some puppet states during the Cold War:
- Cuba (before 1959)
- Guatemala
- South Korea
- South Vietnam (before 1975)
- West Germany
Now[change | change source]
There are several countries that may be called puppet states now:
- Northern Cyprus (puppet state of Turkey)
- Abkhazia (puppet state of Russia)
- South Ossetia (puppet state of Russia)
- Transnistria (puppet state of Russia)
- Donetsk People’s Republic (puppet state of Russia)
- Luhansk People’s Republic (puppet state of Russia)