Ten Minute History - The French Revolution and Napoleon (Short Documentary) · History Matters
本视频简要介绍法国大革命和拿破仑战争的历史背景与关键事件，适合练习历史相关词汇和表达。
1774 and King Louis XV for France is dead, and his grandson Louis XVI succeeds him.
1774年，法国的路易十五国王去世，他的孙子路易十六继承了王位。
France at this point was Europe's greatest power, something which they wished to continue.
此时的法国已是欧洲最强大的国家，他们希望这种地位能够持续下去。
Keeping this position from other European powers was costly and led to a series of expensive wars which essentially bankrupted France.
为了阻止其他欧洲列强占据这一战略要地，法国付出了巨大的代价；由此引发了一系列耗资巨大的战争，最终导致法国经济陷入破产。
At the top of the French government sat the King, the clergy and the nobles, who together are known as the Auncyon regime.
在法国政府的最高层，坐着国王、神职人员以及贵族们；他们共同构成了所谓的“奥昂西翁政权”（Auncyon regime）。
The Auncyon regime mostly didn't pay taxes, which meant financing France's position fell to everyone else, mostly the poor.
昂西翁政权几乎从不纳税，这意味着为法国的军事行动提供资金的责任落在了其他所有人身上，尤其是穷人身上。
This period also saw the height of the enlightenment.
这一时期也是启蒙运动的巅峰时期。
Prominent French political philosophers such as Montesquieu, Rousseau and Voltaire were challenging the political status quo.
蒙田、卢梭和伏尔泰等著名的法国政治哲学家都在挑战当时的政治现状。
One major aspect of this was the King's divine right to rule, which meant that the King was king because that was what God wanted,
其中一个重要方面是国王的“神授统治权”——这意味着国王之所以成为国王，是因为这是上帝的旨意。
so therefore shut up and do what he says.
所以，闭嘴，照他说的去做吧。
Ideas that challenged divine right to rule came from Britain, with its constitutional monarchy and from the newly formed United States,
那些质疑“君权神授”观念的思想，源自英国（其君主立宪制）以及新成立的美国。
who had decided that kings really weren't that necessary.
是谁决定国王其实并不是那么必要的呢？
France's aid to the American Revolution had secured independence for the colonies and had struck a blow against France's great rival.
法国对美国独立战争的援助帮助这些殖民地赢得了独立，并对法国的主要竞争对手造成了沉重打击。
This however was not a cheap blow and threw France into even greater economic hardship.
然而，这一打击的代价极其高昂，导致法国陷入了更加严重的经济困境之中。
Louis appointed a series of finance ministers to fix the country's tax woes,
路易斯任命了一系列财政部长来解决国家的税收问题。
but all failed simply because they couldn't get the clergy or the nobility to pay taxes.
但所有这些尝试都失败了，原因很简单：他们无法让神职人员或贵族们缴纳税款。
The peasantry were now starting to get restless since these tax problems hit them the hardest.
由于这些税收问题对农民的影响最为严重，他们开始变得不安起来。
A harvest failure led to the price of bread skyrocketing and riots broke out.
由于收成失败，面包价格飞涨，随后爆发了骚乱。
France was now in crisis and so Louis called for the assembly of the estates general,
法国现在正处于危机之中，因此路易国王决定召开三级会议（即由贵族、僧侣和平民组成的全国性议会）。
which was a major legislative assembly which had not met for over 150 years.
这是一次重要的立法会议，但它已经超过150年没有举行过了。
It represented the three greater states of France, the first estate, the clergy, the second estate, the nobility and the third estate,
它代表了法国的三个主要社会阶层：第一等级（神职人员）、第二等级（贵族）以及第三等级（平民）。
everybody else.
其他所有人。
No solution could be found, so in order to speed things up,
由于找不到任何解决方案，为了加快解决问题的进程，
King Louis simply locked the third estate out because they were the ones who wanted change.
路易国王干脆将第三等级的人拒之门外——因为正是这些人渴望变革。
The third estate then gathered in a nearby tennis court where they swore to continue meeting until a new constitution was established.
第三等级随后在附近的一个网球场聚集，他们宣誓将继续举行会议，直到新宪法得以制定为止。
Unsurprisingly, King Louis opposed all of this, but the people were much more supportive and formed the National Guard to protect the third estate,
不出所料，路易国王反对这一切；但民众则给予了大力支持，并组建了国民卫队来保护第三等级（即普通民众）。
now called the National Assembly, against violent retaliation.
现在被称为“国民议会”的该机构，呼吁人们反对暴力报复行为。
To do so, they famously stormed the best deal to free prisoners but mostly to get guns.
为此，他们采取了极端手段（比如强行夺取那些本可用于释放囚犯的物资），但他们的真正目的主要是获取枪支。
The National Assembly, now called the National Constituent Assembly,
国民议会，现更名为“国民制宪会议”，
issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen which established the rights of the French people.
《人权与公民权宣言》的颁布确立了法国人民的权利。
What makes this so important is that these rights came from the people, not from the King or God.
之所以这一点如此重要，是因为这些权利是人民赋予的，而非来自国王或上帝。
The bread situation did not improve and as such more riots broke out.
面包供应的情况没有得到改善，因此又发生了更多的骚乱。
A rumour started that the royal family were hoarding food and as such rioters, mostly women, marched on the palace of Versailles.
有传言称王室正在囤积食物，于是主要由妇女组成的暴民们向凡尔赛宫进发。
After a standoff and some violence, the King and his Austrian wife,
在一场对峙和一些暴力事件之后，国王和他的奥地利妻子……
the disdain Marie Antoinette, agreed to return to Paris where they'd be closer to the people.
玛丽·安托瓦内特对这种轻蔑的态度嗤之以鼻，但她还是同意返回巴黎——因为在那里她们能更接近人民。
The revolutionary started to punish the clergy and the nobles.
革命者开始惩罚神职人员与贵族。
The Church could no longer levy taxes and the revolutionaries also introduced a non -religious calendar.
教会不再被允许征收税款，革命者们还推行了一种非宗教性质的日历制度。
Many nobles fled to neighbouring countries and had their lands and wells confiscated.
许多贵族逃往邻国，他们的土地和井被没收了。
These revolutionaries should not be seen as unified, however.
然而，这些革命者并不能被视为一个统一的整体。
They had different ideas on what France should be.
他们对法国应该成为什么样的国家有着不同的看法。
Most revolutionaries such as the Marquis de Lafayette wanted to keep the monarchy, but the Jacoban, led by a set of Maximilian robes Pierre,
大多数革命者（如拉法耶特侯爵）都希望保留君主制，但雅各宾派却持相反观点；该派由皮埃尔·马克西米利安领导。