captive nation

English

Noun

captive nation (plural captive nations)

1. (US, politics, chiefly historical) A country under the control of a Communist regime (especially the Soviet Union).
   • 1989 November 21, A[braham] M[ichael] Rosenthal, “ON MY MIND; Helping the Revolution”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-12-19:

     Almost from the moment the Soviet empire swallowed the captive nations, the fight against it began.

   • 2019 February 25, Euan McKirdy, “Cubans overwhelmingly vote in favor of new constitution”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 2022-10-12:

     Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump claimed that "socialism is dying" and described Cuba as a "captive nation." But Cuban officials framed voting yes to the constitution as a matter of patriotism.

   • 2021 June 24, Henry Olsen, “Opinion: The U.S. can’t save Hong Kong. But it must keep the spirit of freedom alive.”, in The Washington Post‎^[3], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 July 2021:

     When the moment struck in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union started to collapse, nonviolent resistance to Communist rule forced the Soviets out, freeing the captive nations without a shot fired.

Derived terms

• Captive Nations Week

 

Further reading

• Captive Nations on Wikipedia.Wikipedia