History Main / PuppetState

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': The Autobots think Britannia is one to the Decepticons. The truth is slightly more complex - Megatron did help get Charles and [[spoiler: V.V.]] into power, but Charles clearly has ambitions of his own.

* After the Spanish-American war, newly-independent Cuba became a PuppetState when the United States passed the Platt Amendment which gave Congress the ability to override any Cuban foreign policy decision.

* The satellite states of the Soviet Union. The most frequently cited are those in the Warsaw Pact (Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), though most of them at various points in the Cold War tried to exercise their own policies away from the Soviet model - sometimes they got clobbered with tanks for it (Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968) and sometimes they got away with it (Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu developed comparitively close ties with the West and even defied the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Hungary's "Goulash Communism" after the '56 crushing that implemented some elements of free-market economics and comparatively better human rights).

* The former colonies of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire went through this phase on their way to becoming either the independent Commonwealth Realms or republics. An odd example, since their status was always somewhat vague and it evolved over time. For instance, Canada began in 1867 as four colonies united under a Dominion government. This status effectively gave "responsible government" status to an intermediary between the colonies and London. Over the decades, Canada would take more powers for herself, including the right to raise an increasingly independent army, ending the system of British honours for her citizens (replaced by Canadian equivalents), choosing an actual Canadian as Governor General (alongside Parliament's right to choose the Privy Council, this guaranteed Canadian control over the executive), and the Statute of Westminster gave effective ''de facto'' independence in all remaining home and foreign affairs to the Dominions (for the most part, ending this trope regarding these states). After a few decades of haggling (mostly with the provinces/states of their respective governments), the Realms were able to negotiate the passing of laws that severed Britain's last remaining prerogative: London's right to pass laws affecting the constitution of the former colonies. This effectively solidified Queen Lizzie's position as Sovereign over 16 independent countries, instead of the former satellite states they once were.
* The German Empire tried to set these up throughout Eastern Europe and via its plan for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitteleuropa Mitteleuropa]]. The German plan was to annex Luxembourg, either annex Belgium or turn it into a puppet state, turn the Netherlands into a German member state in all but name, turn France into an economic puppet, and set up puppet states from Finland to the Don Republic and Kuban in an attempt to form a buffer between Russia and Germany, and, eventually, establish the means for Germany to begin Germanization of the Region. And all of this would be held together by Mitteleuropa, a political and economic alliance that would have been Germany's idea for a UnitedEurope, including its war time Allies. Germany's attempts to create them during World War I obviously went sour.

* The "Bantustans" in South Africa, ridiculously-shaped and economically unviable territories chiefly existing so that the Apartheid regime could assign a new nationality to the blacks they were trying to disenfranchise. Officially they were governed by blacks but those in charge were paid large amounts of money by the South African government. Four of them (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, and Ciskei) were officially granted independence but no one except South Africa recognized them. With the fall of the apartheid regime they were abolished and said lands were reintergrated back into South Africa.

*** Not quite the traditional example of a puppet state. President Laurel was in many ways independent of the Japanese, having refused Japanese "counsellors" (i.e., what effectively made the state a puppet). Also, he was ordered to remain back in Manila and cooperate with the Japanese by the exiled President Quezon, making him something of a puppet for two enemy sides. He also protected members of the resistance in the Presidential Palace, refused (unsuccessfully) to declare war on the Allies and refused (successfully) to form a pro-Japanese Filipino Army. These are some of the reasons why the Second Republic is just one out of five republics and the word President, when used with the name Laurel, does not carry quotation marks (he's considered a legitimate President since the 1960s). In some ways, Laurel was no more or less a puppet of Japan as his successors were puppets of the U.S.

*** Not quite the traditional example of a puppet state. President Laurel was in many ways independent of the Japanese, having refused Japanese "counsellors" (i.e., what effectively made the state a puppet). Also, he was ordered to remain back in Manila and cooperate with the Japanese by the exiled President Quezon, making him something of a puppet for two enemy sides. He also protected members of the resistance in the Presidential Palace, refused (unsuccessfully) to declare war on the Allies and refused (successfully) to form a pro-Japanese Filipino Army. These are some of the reasons why the Second Republic is just one out of five republics and the word President, when used with the name Laurel, does not carry quotation marks (he's considered a legitimate President since the 1960s).

* ''Scotland'' technically ended up briefly being a vassal state of England when John Baliol was persuaded to swear fealty to Edward I. John Baliol quickly reneged on this however, and Edward squandered any moral claim he might have had in the situation with a show of ''stunning'' brutality during his march north, nearly destroying Berwick upon Tweed, once considered a second Alexandria and reduced by 8,000 people after Edward was through with it to the status of a minor sea-port. Although his hold on southern and midland Scotland lasted up until his death despite a considerable struggle with William Wallace, the sheer hatred of the English stirred up in Scotland went a long way towards being the reason Edwards heirs ultimately lost the country. Ironically, the Scots, after a long period of their noble houses anglicising, were drifting towards the English in terms of culture naturally. Edward I's clumsy attempt to unite the two kingdoms ironically drove the cultures apart and cut an everlasting wedge between the countries that, even with unification, has lasted to this day and could still see the two nations part ways once more. In some ways, the devolved governments of the UK could be seen as this, though it is generally agreed that a referendum would see them a fully independent state, be it Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

!!Examples

* ''Fanfic/CodePrimeR1Rebellion'': The Autobots think Britannia is one to the Decepticons. The truth is slightly more complex - Megatron did help get Charles and [[spoiler: V.V.]] into power, but Charles clearly has ambitions of his own.

* The Irish Free State created by the Anglo-Irish treaty was a British puppet state until 1948, although some nationalists argue it still is to this day.

* Some of the nations conquered by the Nazis during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, such as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy France]] and Norway under the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisling_regime Quisling regime]]. This even gave rise to colloquial use of "Vichy" to denote puppet regimes and "Quisling" to denote the treacherous sellouts in charge of those regimes, hence the trope names VichyEarth and TheQuisling referring to specific subtropes of LesCollaborateurs. Also, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic Italian Social Republic]] during the latter part of the war. LesCollaborateurs aided the Nazis' control over Europe significantly in this respect, as the Germans simply didn't have the manpower to occupy or staff all of their shortlived empire directly.

** Although that didn't stop the country from acting as a VoluntaryVassal to the US ''long'' after "independence", with the sheer level of pro-American loyalties among the Filipinos entirely eclipsing any memory of the brutalities of the Philippine-American War. (It is on record that several of the Filipino oligarch leadership privately ''opposed'' even a nominal independence because it would cut off their access to the vast American markets, and they—as landowning exporters of sugar and other cash crops—stood to lose enormous profits if they had no guaranteed buyers.

** Although that didn't stop the country from acting as a VoluntaryVassal to the US ''long'' after "independence", with the sheer level of pro-American loyalties among the Filipinos entirely eclipsing any memory of the brutalities of the Philippine-American War. (It is on record that several of the Filipino oligarch leadership privately ''opposed'' even a nominal independence because it would cut off their access to the vast American markets … and they—as landowning exporters of sugar and other cash crops—stood to lose vast profits if they had no guaranteed buyers.

** Although that didn't stop the country from acting as a voluntary puppet state to the US ''long'' after "independence", with the sheer level of pro-American loyalties among the Filipinos entirely eclipsing any memory of the brutalities of the Philippine-American War.

* The Philippine Islands were a fairly successful example of this under the United States despite the brutal Pacification Campaigns. This seems to have been because of a string of highly successful proconsuls (including General [=MacArthur=] who to some degree [[GoingNative went native]]). The locals fought very bravely on the US side during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII because they believed the promise of future "independence".[[note]]Although there were also many guerrillas that fought the Japanese independently of the U.S.-allied local forces (the Huk rebels, most prominently); the mere fact that they weren't technically allied with the U.S. in WWII, coupled with their radical-progressive leanings, made American leadership so paranoid that they were Communist agents, that Washington (working through local, oligarchic Filipino lackeys, ''including many confirmed Japanese collaborators'', foremost of all President Manuel Roxas Sr.) did everything in its power to crush and discredit them, and even write them out of the war effort.[[/note]]

* The Philippine Islands were a fairly successful example of this under the United States despite the brutal Pacification Campaigns. This seems to have been because of a string of highly successful proconsuls (including General [=MacArthur=] who to some degree [[GoingNative went native]]). The locals fought very bravely on the US side during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII because they believed-in this case correctly-the promise of future independence.
** Although that didn't stop the country from acting as a voluntary puppet state to the US ''long'' after independence, with the sheer level of pro-American loyalties among the Filipinos entirely eclipsing any memory of the brutalities of the Philippine-American War.

* The Zeon home colonies (taking the name "the Republic of Zeon") at Lagrange Point 2 become one after the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', necessitating TheRemnant move to the Asteroid Belt (and, if you take some of the dodgier ''F91'' spinoffs as canon, Mars). Eventually they give up the pretense and officially fold back into the Earth Federation around UC100.

* The Zeon home colonies at Legrange Point 2 become one after the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', necessitating TheRemnant move to the Asteroid Belt (and, if you take some of the dodgier ''F91'' spinoffs as canon, Mars).

* In the AlternateHistory ''Literature/{{Timeline 191}}'' series, after the United States defeats and occupies Canada during the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI analogue, Quebec is granted independence and is placed squarely under US influence.

* The German Empire tried to set these up throughout Eastern Europe and via its plan for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitteleuropa Mitteleuropa]]. The German plan was to annex Luxembourg, either annex Belgium or turn it into a puppet state, turn the Netherlands into a German member state in all but name, turn France into an economic puppet, and set up puppet states from Finland to the Don Republic and Kuban in an attempt to form a buffer between Russia and Germany, and, eventually, establish the means for Germany to begin Germanization of the Region. And all of this would be held together by Mitteleuropa, a political and economic alliance that would have been Germany's idea for a UnitedEurope, including its war time Allies. Germany's sour attempts to create during World War I obviously went sour.

A state under the effective control of another state. Technically independent and in charge of its own affairs, but in reality if it tries anything without the say-so of the government of the nation in charge of it, it's liable to end up occupied again. An old term for this is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satrapies Satrapies]]. Calling something a vassal state, client state or satellite state is another.

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Egypt, though its child king denies this until he gets a harsh dose of reality. Cleopatra is entirely willing to be Caesar's PuppetQueen because he will back her taking the throne. After his death however she shows she has greater ambitions; not to throw off Roman rule but to establish a joint Egyptian-Roman empire by hooking up with Marc Antony.

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Egypt, though its child king denies this until he gets a harsh dose of reality. Cleopatra is entirely willing to be Caesar's PuppetQueen because he will back her taking the throne. After his death however she shows she has greater ambitions; not to throw off Roman rule but to establish a joint Egyptian-Roman empire by hooking up with Marc Antony.

* Most countries in ''Manga/OnePiece'' are part of a global alliance known as the World Government. There are very harsh penalties for a country's refusal to join, and the ones that do are subject to rules that give the officials almost totally free reign to do as they please.