[1] 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 member states of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War,[2] as well as to Mongolia and Tuva between 1924 and 1990,[3] all of which were economically, culturally, and politically dominated by the Soviet Union.
[6] Although the theocratic Bogd Khanate of Mongolia still nominally continued, with successive series of violent struggles, Soviet influence grew stronger.
In 1924, after the Bogd Khan died of laryngeal cancer[7] or, as some sources suggest, at the hands of Soviet spies,[8] the Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed on November 26, 1924.
A nominally independent and sovereign country, it has been described as being a satellite state of the Soviet Union in the years from 1924 until 1990.
[3][9] During the Russian Civil War, Red Army troops occupied Tuva in January 1920, which had also been part of the Qing Empire of China and a protectorate of Imperial Russia.
[15] Romania's de-satellization process started in 1956 and ended by 1965,[17] with serious economic disagreements with Moscow resulting in a final rejection of Soviet hegemony in 1964.
Some scholars consider North Korea a satellite state under the Soviet Union from 1948 until the 1958 August faction incident.