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The term puppet state (also puppet government, marionette government) describes a nominal sovereignty controlled effectively by a foreign power.[1] The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette.[2] A puppet state has also been described as an entity which in fact lacks independence, preserves all the external paraphernalia of independence, but in reality is only an organ of another state who has set it up and whose satellite it is.[3] [edit] The first puppet statesEngland effectively controlled the de facto crown of France during its control of Paris from 1419 to 1436 during the Hundred Years' War. John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford served as the "regent" until his death in September 1435. Nonetheless, France south of the Loire River except for Gascony did not recognize this as legal and continued to recognize the Dauphin as king. During the Seven Years' War, Britain effectively gained its first foothold of substantial area on the Indian subcontinent by supporting Mir Jafar's claim to the title of Nawab of Bengal at the expense of Siraj ud-Daulah. However, the British demands of tribute proved to be excessive and, after Dutch intervention on Mir Jafar's behalf, the East India Company replaced him with Mir Qasim. When Qasim attempted to stand up to British policies, hostilities lead to the Battle of Buxar and British rule expanded to include most of eastern India The first puppet state in modern European history, in the sense of a state which claimed popular legitimacy but which was significantly dependent on an external power, was the Batavian Republic, established in the Netherlands under French revolutionary protection. The first puppet states, in the sense of new states whose creation was made possible by the intervention of a foreign power, were the Italian republics created in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the assistance and encouragement of Napoleonic France. See French client republics. In 1895, Japan detached Korea from its tributary relationship with China, giving it formal independence which was in reality only a prelude to Japanese annexation. In 1896 Britain established a puppet state in Zanzibar. [edit] Puppet states in WW I
[edit] Puppet states of Imperial JapanDuring Japan's imperial period, and particularly during the Pacific War (parts of which are considered the Pacific theatre of World War II), Japan established a number of states that historians have come to consider puppet régimes. See also Axis powers of World War II [edit] Nominally sovereign states
[edit] Other plansJapan had plans for other puppet states. The Republic of the Far East was a Japanese puppet régime that never got beyond the planning stages.[citation needed] In addition to the Japanese, the Germans supported the formation of this state.[citation needed] In 1943, the plans for a White Russian state died for good after the Battle for Stalingrad. In 1945, as the Second World War drew to a close, Japan planned to grant puppet independence to the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). These plans ended when the Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945. [edit] Puppet states of Nazi Germany and Fascist ItalySeveral European governments under the domination of Nazi Germany and Italy during World War II have been described as puppet régimes. The formal means of control in occupied Europe varied greatly. These régimes fall into several categories. See also Axis powers of World War II [edit] Existing states in alliance with Germany and Italy
[edit] Existing states under German or Italian rule
[edit] New states formed to reflect national aspirations
[edit] Puppet regimes under control of Germany and Italy
[edit] The Italian Social Republic
[edit] Puppet states of the Soviet Union before 1939The Soviet Union had several puppet states in the 1920s.
[edit] Puppet states of the Soviet Union after 1939
As Soviet forces prevailed over the German Army on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, the Soviet Union supported the creation of communist governments in Eastern Europe. Specifically, the People's Republics in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland were dominated by the Soviet Union. While all of these People's Republics did not "officially" take power until after World War II ended, they all have roots in pro-Communist war-time governments. For example, Bulgaria's pro-Communist Fatherland Front seized power in Bulgaria on September 9, 1944. The Fatherland Front government was Soviet dominated and the direct predecessor of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1990). On the other hand, keeping with the Bulgarian example, it could be argued that the People's Republic of Bulgaria under Prime Minister Georgi Dimitrov (1946–1949) was far from being a Soviet puppet. On yet another hand, an argument for co-belligerence status could also be made for these states.
[edit] Iraq and Iran during World War IIThe Axis demand for oil and the concern of the Allies that Germany would look to the oil-rich Middle East for a solution, caused the invasion of Iraq by the United Kingdom and the invasion of Iran by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Pro-Axis governments in both Iraq and Iran were removed and replaced with Allied-dominated governments.
[edit] Satellite statesMain article: Satellite state At the conclusion of the Second World War, there was an understanding between the Allied powers that each state would temporarily occupy the territories they captured during the war before ultimately re-establishing the nations of occupied Europe. For the most part, the territories occupied by the United States, France and the United Kingdom became democracies with market economies aligned with the United States, while the territories occupied by the Soviet Union became communist states aligned with the Soviet Union. This extended so far as to lead to the division of Germany, in which the Soviet occupation sector became East Germany while the United States, United Kingdom, and French occupation sectors became West Germany. Eastern European members of the Warsaw Pact, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany, were Soviet satellite states influenced but not totally controlled by Moscow. While Soviet leaders claimed that the Warsaw Pact nations were equals entering into a mutual alliance, the reality was different, and decisions were often enforced by Soviet Union with threats of and use of force. For example, when Polish communist leaders tried to elect Władysław Gomułka as First Secretary they were issued an ultimatum by the Soviet military—which occupied Poland—ordering them to withdraw election of Gomulka for the First Secretary or be crushed by Soviet tanks.[13] Prague Spring in 1968 led to an invasion of Czechoslovakia by the other Warsaw Pact states. As a rationale for this action, the Soviet Union expressed the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that it was the duty of all socialist states to protect any socialist state from falling to capitalism. The Western bloc interpreted the Brezhnev Doctrine as an expression of Moscow's authority over other communist states. American political analysts and the American public believed so strongly that Eastern Europe's communist states were Soviet puppet states that Gerald Ford's insistence during a debate in the 1976 U.S. presidential election campaign that Eastern Europe was not dominated by the Soviet Union was considered a major gaffe, leading his opponent, Jimmy Carter, to reply that he would like to see Ford convince Czech-Americans and Polish-Americans that their countries did not live under Soviet domination, and to Ford's electoral downfall. Similarly, in 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in a speech at the Berlin Wall, challenged not the East German leader, but rather Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall". Gorbachev ultimately renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine, jokingly calling his policy the "Sinatra Doctrine" after the song "My Way" because of its explicit allowance of Eastern European countries to decide their own internal affairs. Within only a couple years of Gorbachev's abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine, Eastern Europe's communist regimes all fell and their states sought better relations and integration with the West, abandoning ties to Soviet Union. [edit] Korea and VietnamDuring the 1950–1953 Korean War, South Korea was accused of being an American puppet state by North Korea and its allies. At the same time, the United States alleged that North Korea was a Soviet puppet state. In 1955, the Vietnamese Catholic leader Ngo Dinh Diem, encouraged by the United States, declared the creation of the South Vietnam (RVN) in the southern part of Vietnam. The northern part of the country was then largely under control of the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The Paris Peace Accords were preceded by months of intensive negotiations over whether the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam (Viet Cong) should be treated as an independent party or as a puppet of North Vietnam. [edit] Latin AmericaThe United States cited the threat of communism in exerting significant influence—which some historians describe as the creation of puppet states—in a number of Latin American countries, ranging from the Anastasio Somoza regime in Nicaragua, to the Trujillo dynasty in the Dominican Republic. [edit] DecolonizationIn some cases, the process of decolonization has been managed by the decolonizing power to create a neo-colony, that is a nominally independent state whose economy and politics permits continued foreign domination. Neo-colonies are not normally considered puppet states. [edit] South Africa's 'Bantustans'During the 1970s and 1980s, four ethnic bantustans, some of which were extremely fragmented, were carved out of South Africa and given nominal sovereignty. Two (Ciskei and Transkei) were for the Xhosa people; and one each for the Tswana people (Bophuthatswana) and for the Venda people (Venda Republic). The principal purpose of these states was to remove the Xhosa, Tswana and Venda peoples from South African citizenship (and so to provide grounds for denying them democratic rights). All four were reincorporated into South Africa in 1994. [edit] After the Cold War[edit] The War on TerrorismIn more recent times, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq have led to largely U.S.-led regime change efforts in these two nations, fostering accusations among critics of the administration that the governments established under U.S. occupation are American puppet states. Nationalist and Muslim insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan condemn the respective governments as collaborationist puppet regimes. In a January 2008 interview, Afghan President Hamid Karzai assented to being labelled America's "puppet" in return for U.S. assistance, stating, "if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to America, then let that be my nickname." [edit] South OssetiaSouth Ossetia has declared independence but its ability to maintain independence is solely based on Russian troops deployed on Georgian territory. The President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity claimed he would like South Ossetia eventually to become a part of the Russian Federation through reunification with his fellow Ossetian countrymen in North Ossetia.[14]. It is unclear whether this is true puppetry on the part of South Ossetia, or a recognition by Kokoity and the Russians that their desires are compatible and that each party can help the other achieve its goals. [edit] AbkhaziaAbkhazia has declared independence but its ability to maintain independence is solely based on Russian troops deployed on Georgian territory and Russian aid. Abkhazia however, unlike South Ossetia, is not landlocked as it borders the Black Sea and does not wish to become a part of the Russian Federation through reunification. [edit] See also
[edit] References
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