satellite states
Dominated buffer countries
Satellite states are nominally independent countries that are actually dominated by and subordinate to a more powerful neighbor.
The term emerged from Cold War politics to describe Eastern European nations under Soviet control—Poland, East Germany, Hungary, and others that maintained formal sovereignty while following Moscow's directives.
The metaphor suggests these smaller nations orbit the larger power like satellites around a planet.
Cuba was long considered a Soviet satellite state.
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
- sphere of influenceZone of dominant authority
- Brezhnev DoctrineSoviet right to intervene
- Iron CurtainCold War's political divide
- dependenciesThings required for operation
protectorates · Eastern Bloc · Hungarian Revolution · client states · vassal states · Soviet influence · Prague Spring · secret police · puppet governments · Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact · subservience · Velvet Revolution · regime change · interventionism · Red Army · East Berlin · Cold War · communism
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- Napoleonic EraNapoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bonaparte, Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic Code
- Soviet communismLenin, Stalin, Leninism, Bolsheviks, Stalinism
- Soviet EraUSSR, Soviet Union, Soviet rule, CCCP, Eastern Bloc
- Soviet UnionKremlin, Lenin, Stalin, KGB, Sputnik
- Cold War AsiaSoviet Union, North Korea, Vietnam, Korean War, Soviet-Afghan War
satellite statessovereign nations
Self-ruling states with autonomy
satellite statessuperpowers
Capabilities beyond human limits
hegemon · great powers · mother countries · colonial powers · mother country
state, satellite, satellites, satellite dish, microsatellite, satellite imagery, microsatellites, satellite phone, spy satellite