評(píng)論
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For the British, it was the perfect set-up. Their ships dominated the oceans, their slaves brought them profit, the world was their oyster.
對(duì)英國(guó)人而言，這是一個(gè)完美的計(jì)劃。他們的船主宰了海洋，奴隸們?yōu)樗麄儎?chuàng)造財(cái)富，世界就在他們手中。
But someone else was eager to prise it open -- the French. They'd fought for centuries and they would fight again.
但卻有人想奪走這些--法國(guó)人。他們爭(zhēng)斗了數(shù)世紀(jì)且又將開戰(zhàn)。
The Hundred Years' War of the Middle Ages would become the Seven Years' War of the 18th century.
中世紀(jì)的百年戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)將變成十八世紀(jì)的七年戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。
Agincourt, fought, not on a muddy field, but in battles around the globe.
阿金庫(kù)爾戰(zhàn)役不單是泥沼中的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，更是全世界范圍的爭(zhēng)奪。
It turned out that the combo the British most despised -- Jesuits, professional soldiers and bureaucrats -- were stealing the empire before their very eyes, starting with continental America.
結(jié)果表明，英國(guó)人最蔑視的集團(tuán)--耶穌會(huì)士、職業(yè)軍人和官僚--正從他們眼皮底下竊取帝國(guó)，這種竊取從美洲大陸開始。
Singing patriotic anthems wouldn't stop them, only war would. And war, as the Romans discovered, changes everything.
愛國(guó)頌歌無(wú)法令他們止步，唯有戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)能夠。正如羅馬人所言，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)改變一切。
The first victim is liberty and the second is profit.
首先犧牲的是自由，其次是利益。
The French had been in North America for as long as the British, based in Canada to the north, and Louisiana to the south, and exploring the Mississippi and the Ohio River valley in between.
法國(guó)人來(lái)到北美的時(shí)間與英國(guó)人不相上下，北起加拿大，南至路易斯安那，還開拓了其間的密西西比以及俄亥俄河谷。
It didn't take a genius to work out that a cordon of French forts linking Canada to Louisiana would box the British colonies in. It would be death by slow strangulation.
不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，法國(guó)人修筑了連接加拿大到路易斯安那的堡壘，對(duì)英屬殖民地形成合圍之勢(shì)。勢(shì)必慢慢扼殺他們。
The days of the ad hoc empire were drawing to a close. Empires were not for sharing. The British would have to fight to keep theirs.
獨(dú)占天下的夢(mèng)想岌岌可危。一山不容二虎。英國(guó)人必須捍衛(wèi)自己的領(lǐng)土。
It was commonly thought by politicians that war was coming, but it wasn't a prospect anyone relished, except someone who made global victory his alpha and omega.
政客們普遍認(rèn)為戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)將近，卻又不希望看到這一幕，除了把稱霸世界視為生命全部的人。
And that man was William Pitt. For better or worse, it was William Pitt, neurotic, gouty, irascible, either maniacally hyperactive or collapsed in a paralysing gloom, who was the British Empire's true visionary.
那個(gè)人就是威廉·皮特。不管怎樣，他神經(jīng)質(zhì)，患有痛風(fēng)，易怒，時(shí)而狂熱亢進(jìn)，時(shí)而陷入憂郁，他是大英帝國(guó)真正的夢(mèng)想家。
He believed with an almost feverish intensity that what was at stake in the struggle between France and Britain was not just who would get the lion's share of wealth, but whether the world would be conquered by liberty or despotism.
極度狂熱地相信，英法競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的勝負(fù)不僅關(guān)系到誰(shuí)能得到最大份額財(cái)富，更關(guān)系到將要統(tǒng)治世界的是自由還是獨(dú)裁。
The first rounds went badly for the forces of liberty.
自由一方的武裝力量開局不利。
British troops were wiped out in the backwoods of New York State by the French and their native allies.
英軍被法國(guó)及其原住民盟友在紐約州的荒地上拖得精疲力盡。
So Pitt unleashed his biggest weapon -- his war chest.
于是皮特發(fā)動(dòng)了他的最強(qiáng)武器--戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)基金。
He would fight the First World War with columns of figures as well as columns of soldiers.
如果他生于一戰(zhàn)期間，他將窮盡財(cái)力和兵力。
Pit spent 18 million pounds a year, twice the government's annual income. This flew right in the face of the empire's basic principle -- that it shouldn't cost.
皮特一年就花去1800萬(wàn)英鎊，是政府年收入的兩倍。如此揮霍對(duì)帝國(guó)的原則是當(dāng)頭一棒--錢要花在刀口上。
But, as Pitt calculated, you can't make a profit from empire if it's not your empire. After one more setback, there were nothing but glories.
不過(guò)，正如皮特盤算的，不是你的地盤，就沒法從中牟利。如果再一次受挫，就只能徒留榮譽(yù)。
1759 was a year of military miracles.
1795年創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)軍史神話。
The strongholds of the French Empire fell, one by one, to truly British forces, Highland regiments often leading the way in India, the French sugar islands, West Africa and Nova Scotia.
法蘭西帝國(guó)的堡壘被推倒，被英軍一個(gè)接一個(gè)地攻克，蘇格蘭高地團(tuán)一路披荊斬棘，拿下印度，產(chǎn)糖的法屬殖民島，西非和新斯科舍。
Horace Walpole boasted: Our bells are worn threadbare with the ringing of victories.
霍勒斯·沃波爾吹噓說(shuō)：勝利之聲持續(xù)敲響，鐘都為之震碎。
But there was no victory as sweet or as significant as the one that broke the back of French power in North America for good -- General Wolfe's conquest of Quebec.
沒有其他的勝利能比得上在北美一勞永逸地粉碎法軍主力更令人振奮、更有意義，沃爾夫?qū)④姽ト】笨恕?/div>
It was exactly the kind of thing Pitt adored.
這正是皮特所樂見的。
An attack so improbable that Wolfe himself assumed it couldn't work.
一次幾乎不可能的進(jìn)攻，沃爾夫自己也以為會(huì)失敗。
He'd designed it more as a glorious death than a likely victory, climbing the sheer cliffs that protected the city and surprising -- and were they surprised -- the French.
比起渺茫的勝利，他更做好了光榮犧牲的準(zhǔn)備，英軍攀上護(hù)城的峭壁，出人意料，完全出乎法軍的意料。
After a suicidal charge, the defenders were cut down in a monstrous volley.
在一波自殺式的沖鋒后，法軍被一陣猛烈的齊射擊潰。
True to his script, Wolfe took a shattering shot to the wrist, then bullets in the guts and chest.
作好犧牲準(zhǔn)備的沃爾夫手腕中彈，接著內(nèi)臟和胸膛中彈。
Bleeding into the arms of his brother officers, he died as the first imperial romantic martyr, duly set in marble in Westminster Abbey.
鮮血浸透了戰(zhàn)友的雙臂，他成為了帝國(guó)第一位傳奇的烈士，隨后安息于威斯敏斯特教堂的大理石棺。
Victory in Quebec and then Montreal totally transformed the British Empire in North America.
魁北克和之后蒙特利爾的勝利完全扭轉(zhuǎn)了大英帝國(guó)在北美的局勢(shì)。
Pitt had made America, as he supposed, British forever. And he must have felt he'd made the world safe for liberty to triumph.
皮特如愿把北美永久納入了大英帝國(guó)。他定會(huì)覺得是他把世界帶向了自由的主宰。
The age of imperial Britain as a world power was about to dawn, was it not?
大英帝國(guó)成為世界強(qiáng)國(guó)的時(shí)代即將到來(lái)，不是嗎？
