puppet armies
Forces under manipulation
Puppet armies are military forces nominally belonging to one nation but controlled by another power.
The term implies the army serves foreign interests rather than its own country's, with local commanders taking orders from outside masters.
Most associated with occupied territories during World War II: The Japanese established puppet armies throughout Manchuria.
The phrase carries strong connotations of illegitimacy and collaboration.
- marionettesString-controlled theatrical figures
- pulling stringsExercising covert influence
- proxiesAuthorized stand-ins
- figureheadsPowerless titular leaders
- vassalsFeudal subordinates owing service
troops · colonial militias · occupied territory · client state · surrogate · satellite state · mercenary · army · soldiers · boots on the ground · mercenary forces · hired guns · foreign legion · occupation forces · regime change · proxy war · insurgent groups · Cold War alliances
puppet armiesindigenous resistance
First peoples opposing colonization
citizen militias · guerrilla movements · home guard · standing armies
puppet armiesguerrilla fighters
Irregular combatants using ambush tactics
freedom fighters · insurgent forces · liberation movements · maquis
puppet, puppets, puppetry, puppeteer, puppeteers, armies, arms, armed, arming