The political term
satellite state designates a
country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy
political,
economic and
military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects
orbiting a larger object, such as smaller moons revolving around larger planets, and is used mainly to refer to
Central and
Eastern European countries of the
Warsaw Pact during the
Cold War or to
Mongolia between 1924 and 1990, for example. As used for Central and Eastern European countries it implies that the countries in question were "satellites" under the
hegemony of the
Soviet Union. In some contexts it also refers to other countries in the
Soviet sphere of influence during the Cold War—such as
North Korea (especially in the years surrounding the Korean War of 1950–1953) and
Cuba (particularly after it joined the
Comecon in 1972). In Western usage, the term has seldom been applied to states other than those in the Soviet orbit. In Soviet usage, the term applied to the states in the orbit of
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy.