In the 1950s and 1960s, the USSR controlled Eastern European nations via a number of methods, including

The Soviet Union maintained control over Eastern European countries by supporting communist puppet governments and intervening with military force when people challenged communist rule. For example, Soviet troops helped suppress uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. This matches “establishing puppet governments and using force to crush any dissent or opposition to communist rule.”

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