希特勒如何造就了俄羅斯這個超級強國

After suffering more than twenty million military and civilian deaths in World War II Russia has little cause to thank Hitler.

在二戰中遭受超過二千萬軍民死亡的俄羅斯沒有任何理由感謝希特勒。

But with Wednesday June 22 marking the seventy-fifth anniversary ofOperation Barbarossa the Nazi invasion of the Soviet unx it is time to recall one of history’s greatest ironies. Adolf Hitler was obsessed with turning Russia into a vast German colony and the Russian people into slaves. Instead half of Germany was occupied by the Red Army its people subjects of the Russian empire. When four million Nazi soldiers crossed the Soviet border in the early hours of June 22 1941 they dreamed of seeing the spires of the Kremlin. Instead they unleashed a chain of consequences that still shape the world today.

但是在今年6月22的週三，即納粹入侵蘇聯的巴巴羅薩行動75週年紀念日，是時候讓我們重新回顧一下這個歷史上最大的諷刺事件。阿道夫.希特勒沉迷於將俄羅斯變成德國最大的殖民地，以及奴隸俄羅斯人民。可笑的是最終一半德國領土被紅軍佔領，人民臣服於俄羅斯帝國。當400萬納粹士兵於1941年6月22日穿過蘇聯邊境時，他們幻想着看到克林姆宮的塔尖，事與願違的是這次行動造成的一系列後果至今影響着世界。

To claim that Russia was not a great power before Hitler would be silly. Abundant in territory resources and population Russia has been a heavyweight since at least the eighteenth century a behemoth strong enough to destroy the army of Napoleon (who also thought Russia would be easy prey). Yet three-quarters of a century later it is hard to appreciate just how different the global balance of power was back then.

如果認爲希特勒之前的俄羅斯不是強國，那麼這種想法是愚蠢的。豐富的自然資源和人口使俄羅斯至少從18世紀開始就是一個大國，一個足以摧毀拿破崙軍隊的龐然大物（拿破崙當時也認爲俄羅斯很容易被征服）。在75年後，我們很難想象那時的世界權力格局與當今有多麼不同。

In the late 1930s the United States had an army smaller than Romania’s. Britain whose destroyers today can’t sail in warm water owned a quarter of the Earth’s surface and was reckoned to have the world’s most powerful navy. France now the butt of many “I surrender” jokes was considered to have the most powerful land army in Western Europe. Germany whose military todayappears barely functional had been terrifying its neighbors since 1870.

在1930年代末時，美國的軍隊規模小於羅馬尼亞，現今驅逐艦都不能航行在溫水海域的英國在當時佔有全球四分之一領土，並且被認爲擁有全球最強大的海軍。如今經常被“我投降”拿來開涮的法國在當時的西歐擁有最強大的陸軍。如今被認爲不具有軍事力量的德國，從1870年代開始就威脅其鄰國、

And then there was Russia the enigmatic Communist colossus racked by Stalinist purges the giant with feet of clay that could barely subdue tiny Finland in 1939–40. It wasn’t just Hitler and his generals who believed Russia would collapse like a house of cards; even British and American experts did not expect Moscow to survive Hitler’s blitzkrieg. Yet in May 1945 it was Britain that was broke France devastated and Germans who watched Russian tanks clank through the rubble of Berlin. Like a boxer bloodied but still triumphant it was Russia that remained on its feet and became one of the world’s two superpowers for more than forty years.

在1930至1940年代時，神祕的社會主義國家俄羅斯正因斯大林式的清洗迫害而深陷泥潭中，甚至都不能征服弱小的芬蘭。不僅是希特勒和他的將軍們認爲俄羅斯會像紙牌屋一樣倒塌，甚至英國和美國專家也不認爲莫斯科能挺過希特勒的閃電襲擊。然而在1945年5月，英國和法國一樣變得滿目瘡痍，德國人親眼目睹俄羅斯坦克開過柏林廢墟。就像鮮血淋漓依然依然獲得勝利的拳擊手一樣，俄羅斯最終站了起來，並在接下來超過五十年的時間裏成爲世界兩個超級大國之一。

What would Russia look like today if World War II had never happened? What if Hitler had remained a failed painter in Vienna or had been blown up by an assassin’s bomb in a Munich beer hall?

如果二戰沒有發生，如果希特勒依然是維也納一個失敗的畫家或者在慕尼黑的啤酒大廳中炸彈暗殺中身亡，今天的俄羅斯會是什麼樣？