War. When defeating and subjugating an opposing force, you eliminate the strong, the smart, and the rebellious leaving behind the defenseless. Then these defenseless are subjected to generations of oppression that cements into them the mindset of inferiority and subservience. Until it reaches a point that the status quo of repression is all they know and they could never imagine anything else.
At least until a figure appears that knows that there can be other ways and leads them in an uprising. Kinda like how the Hebrew were enslaved to the Egyptians until Moises, a figure who did not grow up as a slave, inspired them to escape.