A client state in the context of international relations is a state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state.[Michael Graham Fry, Erik Goldstein, Richard Langhorne. Guide to International Relations and Diplomacy. London, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Continuum International Publishing, 2002. Pp. 9.] Alternative terms
Controlling states in history
Persia, Greece, Ancient China and Rome
Ancient states such as Persia,
Parthia,
Ancient Greece,
Ancient China, and
Ancient Rome sometimes created client states by making the leaders of that state subservient, having to provide
tribute and soldiers.
Classical Athens, for example, forced weaker states into the
Delian League and in some cases imposed democratic governments on them. Later, Philip II of Macedon similarly imposed the League of Corinth. One of the most prolific users of client states was
Roman Republic[Collected studies: Alexander and his successors in Macedonia, by Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond,1994, page 257,"to Demetrius of Pharos, whom she set up as a client king] which, instead of conquering and then absorbing into an empire, chose to make client states out of those it defeated (e.g. Demetrius of Pharos), a policy which was continued up until the 1st century BCE when it became the
Roman Empire. Sometimes the client was not a former enemy but a
pretender whom Rome helped, Herod the Great being a well-known example. The use of client states continued through the
Middle Ages as the
Feudalism began to take hold.
Ottoman Empire
The number of tributary or vassal states varied over time but most notable were the
Crimean Khanate,
Wallachia,
Moldavia, Transylvania, the Sharifate of Mecca, and the
Aceh Sultanate.
19th and 20th centuries
Russian Empire
Austria-Hungary tried to make Serbia a client state in order to form a
Christianity opposition to the
Ottoman Empire, but after the 1903 May Coup, Serbia came under the influence of
Russian Empire, which was forming a pan-Eastern Orthodox opposition to the Latin Christianity represented by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1914, Russia repeatedly warned Austria-Hungary against attacking Serbia. When it did attack, Russia mobilised its army.
[Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov warned Austria in 1914 that Russia "Would respond militarily to any action against the client state." Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2012) p 481.] Russia also wanted Bulgaria
and Montenegro
as client states.
At the time, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary both considered Serbia as a client state controlled by Russia.
First French Empire
During the Revolutionary and
(1789–1815), France conquered most of
western Europe and established several client states.
At first, during the French Revolutionary Wars, these states were erected as " Républiques sœurs" (""). They were established in Italy (the Cisalpine Republic in Northern Italy and the Parthenopean Republic in Southern Italy), Greece ( Îles Ioniennes), Switzerland (the Helvetic Republic and the Valais Republic), and Belgium and the Netherlands (Batavian Republic).
During the First French Empire, while Napoleon and the French Army occupied much of Europe, such states changed, and several new states were formed. The Italian republics were transformed into the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleon's direct rule in the north, and the Kingdom of Naples in the south, first under Joseph Bonaparte and later under Marshal Joachim Murat. A third state was created in the Italian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Etruria. The Batavian Republic was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland, ruled by Napoleon's third brother, Louis Bonaparte.
A total of 35 German states, all of them allies of France, seceded from the Holy Roman Empire to create the Confederation of the Rhine, a client state created to provide a buffer between France and its two largest enemies to the east, Prussia and Austrian Empire. Two of those states were Napoleonic creations: the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was controlled by Jérôme Bonaparte, the Emperor's youngest brother; and the Grand Duchy of Würzburg as was Poland, then the Duchy of Warsaw.
During the Peninsular War, Napoleon attempted to subjugate Portugal and Spain into a client Kingdom of Spain, but the French were eventually driven out of Iberia in a costly war.
France after decolonisation
In the 20th century, France exercised a sphere of influence, or
Françafrique over its former African colonies,
and to some degree former Belgian colonies in Africa (which were also French-speaking). The term is sometimes used pejoratively, to characterise the relationship with France as neocolonial. The former colonies provide oil and minerals important to the French economy, and in some, French companies have commercial interests.
British Empire
The
Princely state were nominally sovereign entities in the
British Empire and in 1947, were given a choice to either accede to independent India or Pakistan or get independence (the Nizam of Hyderabad did opt for independence but his kingdom was annexed by Indian forces in 1948). Egyptian independence in 1922 ended its brief status as a British protectorate and Iraq was made a kingdom in 1932. But in both cases, the economic and military reality did not amount to full independence, but a status where the local rulers were British clients. Other instances include Africa (e.g. Northern Nigeria under Lord Lugard), and the Unfederated Malay States; the policy of
indirect rule.
Germany
World War I
-
Kingdom of Poland
[The Regency Kingdom has been referred to as a puppet state by Norman Davies in Europe: A history ( Google Print, p. 910); by Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki in A Concise History of Poland ( Google Print, p. 218); by Piotr J. Wroblel in Chronology of Polish History and Nation and History ( Google Print, p. 454); and by Raymond Leslie Buell in Poland: Key to Europe ( Google Print, p. 68: "The Polish Kingdom... was merely a pawn of").] (1917–1918)
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Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
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[Kataryna Wolczuk. The Moulding of Ukraine: The Constitutional Politics of State Formation. p. 37.] (1918)
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Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
[Kevin O'Connor, The History of the Baltic States, page 78, .] (1918)
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World War II
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Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
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(1940–1944)
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(1941–1945)
-
Albanian Kingdom (1943–1944)
United States
The term has also been applied to states which are extremely economically dependent on a more powerful nation. The three Pacific Ocean countries associated with the United States under the Compact of Free Association (the Federated States of Micronesia, the
Marshall Islands, and
Palau) have been called client states.
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(1945–1949) → (1949–1979)
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(1970–1975)
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(1965–1986)
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(1948–1953)
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(1954–1975)
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(1949–1976)
Imperial Japan
In the late 19th century, the Empire of Japan gradually reduced
Joseon's status to that of a client state. In the early 20th century, this was converted to direct rule.
Manchukuo, in contrast, remained a puppet state throughout World War II.
-
(1943–1945)
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(1943–1945)
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Kingdom of Kampuchea (1945)
-
China (East Hebei Autonomous Government and North Shanxi Autonomous Government)
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Great Way Government (1937–1938)
-
Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940)
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Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China (1940–1945)
-
(After the First Sino-Japanese War)
-
-
Kingdom of Luang Phrabang (1945)
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(1932–1945)
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(1939–1945)
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(1943–1945)
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Empire of Vietnam (1945)
Soviet Union
Soviet proxy, "satellite", or client states included much of the
Warsaw Pact member states whose policies were heavily influenced by Soviet military power and economic aid. Other nations with Marxist–Leninist governments were routinely criticised as being Soviet proxies as well, among them
Cuba following the
Cuban Revolution, the Chinese Soviet Republic,
North Korea,
, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
South Yemen, the People's Republic of Angola, the People's Republic of Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Within the
Soviet Union itself, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, had seats at the
United Nations, but were actually proper Soviet territory.
See also
