What Happened to Prussia? (Short Animated Documentary) · History Matters
了解普鲁士如何从一个强大的国家变成历史，适合练习历史、文化、政治话题。
There are few historical nations which capture the imagination as much as Prussia.
在历史上，很少有哪个国家能像普鲁士那样激发人们的想象力。
With its staunch militarism, its dedication to phenomenal facial hair and its iconic borders.
凭借其坚定的军国主义立场、对独特面部胡须的执着追求，以及那些极具标志性的国界线……
Yet, if you look at a modern map, you'll see that there's a distinct lack of Prussia.
然而，如果你查看一张现代地图，就会发现普鲁士这个国家在地图上已经完全消失了。
But why?
但为什么呢？
What happened to it and where did Prussia go?
它后来发生了什么？普鲁士又去了哪里？
Now, I know what many of you will already be saying.
现在，我知道你们中的很多人可能会说什么了。
Prussia just became Germany right, which is both true and also isn't.
普鲁士后来变成了德国，这一点既是对的，同时又有点不对。
You see, Prussia wasn't just a nation state,
你看，普鲁士不仅仅是一个民族国家。
but it was a cultural centre, a major part of the German -speaking world and briefly an international great power,
但它曾是一个文化中心，是德语世界的重要组成部分；在短暂的时间内，它还曾是一个国际强国。
whose influence stretched far beyond its own borders.
其影响力远远超出了自身的边界。
Prussia's journey from firmly existing to not isn't a linear one, and this change starts in the mid -19th century.
普鲁士从一个稳固存在的国家逐渐走向消亡的过程并非线性的；这一变化实际上始于19世纪中叶。
In 1866, due to a conflict surrounding the ownership of some land recently taken from Denmark,
1866年，由于围绕一块从丹麦手中夺取的土地的所有权问题发生了冲突……
Prussia went to war with the Austrian Empire and its allies.
普鲁士向奥地利帝国及其盟国宣战。
It promptly defeated them, and as a result,
它迅速击败了他们，因此……
the Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck annexed the Northern Austrian allies and forced its own to join the North German Confederation.
普鲁士首相奥托·冯·俾斯麦吞并了奥地利北部的盟友，并迫使奥地利南部地区加入北德意志邦联。
Which wasn't really a unified nation state, but more of an alliance completely dominated by Prussia.
其实这并不是一个真正意义上的统一民族国家，而更像是一个完全由普鲁士主导的联盟。
The North German Confederation didn't last too long, because if you look at the time, you'll see it's time for war with France.
北德邦联存在的时间并不长；因为从当时的历史背景来看，与法国开战已经迫在眉睫了。
And in this war, the Prussians were on the same side as the southern German states who came to its aid.
在这场战争中，普鲁士人与那些前来援助他们的德国南部各邦站在同一阵线上。
And after defeating the French army, the victors proclaimed the creation of the German Empire, and for many,
在击败法国军队之后，胜利者宣布成立了德意志帝国。对许多人来说，这一事件具有重要意义……
this is where Prussia ceases to exist.
从这里开始，普鲁士就不再作为一个独立的国家存在了。
Except that it didn't.
只不过事实并非如此。
The German Empire, as the name suggests, was an empire and it consisted of several kingdoms, duchies, and principalities,
德意志帝国，顾名思义，是一个由多个王国、公国和侯国组成的帝国。
all of whom were considered to be semi -independent, barring matters of collective defence, that is.
所有这些国家都被视为半独立的国家，当然集体防御事务除外。
The Emperor of this new Germany was also the King of Prussia, and the Empire's Chancellor was automatically the Prime Minister of Prussia too.
这个新德国的皇帝同时也是普鲁士国王；而帝国的总理则自动兼任普鲁士的首相。
Despite Prussia's dominance of the new German state, it shouldn't be seen as Prussia simply becoming the German Empire and as having annexed the other parts.
尽管普鲁士在新成立的德意志国家中占据了主导地位，但我们不应将其简单地视为普鲁士直接变成了德意志帝国，并吞并了其他地区。
They were all separate in the same way that Hungary and Austria were separate in the Austro -Hungarian Empire.
它们彼此都是独立的；就如同在奥匈帝国中，匈牙利和奥地利也是各自独立的两个国家一样。
Like all empires, the German one didn't last forever, and after World War I, it was dissolved, lost a bunch of territory,
像所有帝国一样，德国帝国也没有永远存在下去。第一次世界大战结束后，德国帝国解体了，还失去了大量领土。
and was succeeded by the Weimar Republic.
随后魏玛共和国取代了它。
Much like the rest of the Empire, Prussia lost its royal team, became the free state of Prussia,
与帝国的其他地区一样，普鲁士也失去了其王室统治，变成了一个独立的自由国家——普鲁士。
minus these lands, and it was now governed by its own diet.
除了这些土地之外，该地区现在由自己的议会（即“diet”）进行管理。
Now obviously Prussia still existed, but it was very changed and no longer reflected what it's historically famous for.
显然，普鲁士仍然存在，但它已经发生了巨大的变化，不再能够体现其历史上所享有的那些著名特征（或：普鲁士虽然仍然存在，但它已经发生了巨大的变化，不再具备其历史上所代表的那些重要意义）。
For one, it was one of the more stable parts of the troubled Weimar Republic.
首先，它是那个动荡不安的魏玛共和国中较为稳定的地区之一。
For example, its state government was nearly always run by Otto Brown of the Social Democratic Party,
例如，该州的政府几乎一直由社会民主党的奥托·布朗担任领导人。
which brought it into conflict in the late 1920s with the conservative German Chancellor and the central government.
这导致在20世纪20年代末，该政策与保守派的德国总理及中央政府发生了冲突。
To fix this, the German Chancellor, Franz von Papen and President Hindenburg issued a decree in 1932 simply dissolving the Prussian state government.
为了解决这个问题，德国总理弗朗茨·冯·帕彭与总统兴登堡于1932年颁布了一项法令，正式解散了普鲁士州政府。
And von Papen was now directly in charge of the state.
冯·帕彭现在直接负责国家的管理工作。
He didn't last, and neither did the Weimar Republic and its replacement maintained direct control over Prussia.
他没能坚持下去；魏玛共和国同样没能延续下去，而取代它的政权也未能直接控制普鲁士。
The new government reformed Germany's internal states and to new units called Gao in 1934.
新政府在1934年对德国的各个内部行政区进行了改革，将其重新划分为被称为“Gau”的新行政单位。
And this was basically the end of Prussia as a single territorial unit, but there were some titles and traditions which remained.
从本质上讲，这标志着普鲁士作为一个独立领土单位的终结；不过，仍有一些头衔和传统得以保留下来。
Along came World War II and as you'll know, Germany lost this one too.
随后第二次世界大战爆发了，正如大家所知，德国在这场战争中也败下了阵来。