从历史上看，你认为哪个帝国是最伟大和最成功的？（二）

Historically, which empire do you think was the greatest and the most successful?

2023-10-06 Natsuo 7998 25 3 收藏纠错&举报

译文简介

从统计学上讲，这将是大英帝国的鼎盛时期，但这个问题很模糊。哪方面最伟大?时间最长的?可能是罗马帝国，特别是如果你把后来的希腊拜占庭帝国包括在内，它一直认为自己是罗马帝国，或者中世纪的神圣罗马帝国。

正文翻译

Stuart DeQuincy
Statistically it would be the British Empire at its height but the question is vague. In what way greatest? The longest lived? Probably the Roman Empire especially if you include the later iterations like the Greek Byzantine Empire which always considered itself Roman or the Holy Roman Empire of the middle ages. Most dominant? Most influential? Richest? For me I always think of the Empire of Alexander the Great as the most interesting considering its effect on the world around it.

从统计学上讲，这将是大英帝国的鼎盛时期，但这个问题很模糊。哪方面最伟大?时间最长的?可能是罗马帝国，特别是如果你把后来的希腊拜占庭帝国包括在内，它一直认为自己是罗马帝国，或者中世纪的神圣罗马帝国。最具优势的?最具影响力的?富有吗?对我来说，我一直认为亚历山大大帝的帝国是最有趣的，考虑到它对周围世界的影响。

评论翻译

Mithil Kamble
It is impossible to answer the question without setting some ground rules. British, Roman and Turkic empires were definitely at the top depending on how you measure success of an empire. However, the list would always be incomplete without mentioning the Mongol empire.
In terms of the rate of growth, contiguous landmass conquered and the wealth accumulated in one man’s lifetime is unparalleled in the human history. The geopolitical influence Mongols had can be felt even today. Unfortunately, it is not viewed too kindly from the western perspective.

如果不设定一些基本规则，就不可能回答这个问题。大英帝国、罗马帝国和突厥帝国绝对名列前茅，这取决于你如何衡量一个帝国的成功。然而，如果不提到蒙古帝国，这个名单将是不完整的。
就增长率而言，在一个人的一生中征服的连续土地和积累的财富在人类历史上是无与伦比的。即使在今天，蒙古人的地缘政治影响仍然可以感受到。不幸的是，从西方的角度来看，这并不太好。
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At their peak Mongols controlled close to 10 million Sq miles of contiguous land mass. The stability they brought to trade ensured free travel of innovations across the globe. The Chinese gunpowder reached Europe under the watch of Mongols (we all know how that turned up in the end). The cultural homogeneity bought by the Mongols would sow seeds of the great Ottoman empire. A Turk claiming his lineage to the Genghis Khan would go on to start one of the wealthiest empires in India. It is impossible to imagine today’s world without factoring in the Mongol empire.

蒙古帝国在其鼎盛时期控制了近1000万平方英里的连续土地。他们为贸易带来的稳定确保了创新的自由流动。中国的火药在蒙古人的监督下传到了欧洲（我们都知道最后结果如何）。蒙古人带来的文化同质性为伟大的奥斯曼帝国播下了种子。一位声称自己是成吉思汗后裔的突厥人将会建立起印度最富有的帝国之一。今天的世界无法想象没有考虑到蒙古帝国。

Genghis Khan couldn’t read and was born a nobody on barren piece of land which saw nothing but endless feudal wars. The achievement looks even more stupendous when we realize that almost everybody conquered by mongols were materially well prepared and better informed about the ways of war.
In their days, Mongols did kick some ass.

成吉思汗不识字，出生在一片贫瘠的土地上，只见到无尽的封建战争。当我们意识到几乎所有被蒙古人征服的人都在物质上做好了准备，并更加了解战争的方式时，这一成就显得更加惊人。
在他们的时代，蒙古人确实打了一些厉害的仗。

Rick Aborn
The British Empire was the greatest empire in the world by land mass and was quite powerful in terms of wealth and navy. In 1920, the landmass was 13.71 million square miles and included India, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and several other territories.

大英帝国是世界上陆地面积最大的帝国，在财富和海军方面都相当强大。1920年，大陆面积为1371万平方英里，包括印度、澳大利亚、加拿大、香港、马来西亚和其他几个地区。

On top of the expansive territories under GB’s control, Britain's dominant position in global trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries without them being labeled as territories. Countries like China, Argentina and Siam have been described by some historians as an Informal Empire. Britain had great influence over these countries and even influenced their politics.

除了在英国控制下的广阔领土之外，英国在全球贸易中的主导地位意味着它有效地控制了许多国家的经济，而这些国家却没有被贴上领土的标签。一些历史学家将中国、阿根廷和暹罗等国描述为非正式帝国。英国对这些国家有很大的影响，甚至影响了他们的政治。

The East India Company spearheaded the expansion of the British Empire throughout Asia. The Company even had their own army which actually had first joined forces with the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War. The two armies continued to co-operate for decades after throughout the Asian continent.

东印度公司是大英帝国在亚洲扩张的先锋。公司甚至有自己的军队，这支军队实际上是在七年战争期间第一次加入皇家海军的。此后的几十年里，两国军队在整个亚洲大陆继续合作。

The British Navy was ultimately the source of it’s power and ability to project it’s power across the globe. From the middle decades of the 17th century all the way until WW2, the British had the strongest naval force in the world. (And is still up there today)
Honorable Mentions to: Mongolia, Russia, Spanish and Qing Dynasty for the largest empires in history

英国海军最终是其力量的源泉，也是在全球范围内投射力量的能力的源泉。从17世纪中期一直到二战，英国拥有世界上最强大的海军力量。(至今仍在那里)
值得一提的是:蒙古、俄罗斯、西班牙和清朝是历史上最大的帝国

Halyna Romanivna Didycka
I would propose the British Empire as one of the greatest. In 1603 England was still a small if rising nation, poorer than Venice, less powerful than Spain or France. Britain was only the dream of a Scottish king, James VI (later James I, king of England). By 1776, Britain had become a reality, if a sometimes unsteady one. It had risen to become arguably the most powerful nation in Europe, and although it was in the process of losing one empire across the Atlantic, was poised to acquire another, which, as its champions never tired of repeating, would encircle the globe.
Firstly, the British Empire was based on trade.

我认为大英帝国是最伟大的帝国之一。1603年，英格兰仍是一个正在崛起的小国，比威尼斯还穷，不如西班牙和法国强大。不列颠只是苏格兰国王詹姆斯六世(后来的英格兰国王詹姆斯一世)的梦想。到1776年，英国已经成为现实，尽管有时还不稳定。它已经崛起为欧洲最强大的国家，尽管它正在失去一个横跨大西洋的帝国，但它正准备获得另一个帝国，正如它的拥护者不厌其烦地重复的那样，这个帝国将包围全球。
首先，大英帝国是以贸易为基础的。
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A great advantage was that Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars relatively intact and unscathed, and with a significant naval predominance largely because of the losses that other states endured. Britain initiated the 19th century with a huge head start in industry, and uncontested naval dominance. The British had the logistics to control such a massive empire with the telegraph, railway, a massive navy and a likable government and economic system to colonial enterprises. Such an empire could not have existed in the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries.

一个巨大的优势是，英国在拿破仑战争中相对完整、毫发无损，而且在海军方面拥有显著优势，主要是因为其他国家遭受了损失。19世纪初，英国在工业上有着巨大的领先优势，在海军上也拥有无可匹敌的优势。英国人有足够的后勤来控制这样一个庞大的帝国，有电报、铁路、庞大的海军，还有一个讨人喜欢的政府和殖民地企业的经济体系。这样的帝国在16、17或18世纪是不可能存在的。

A great factor was the economic liberalism (the Free Hand) that made making money in UK territories relatively easy, due to deregulated markets with a real, independent judiciary. Basically it was worth it to invest in a business in a UK colony (compare to Russia today, or China, where you have no idea whether some bigwig will see you as a competitor and crush you illegally). Essentially, there really was freedom of sorts when you lived and worked in a British colony. The British knew how to create a minimal administration that left people to their own devices.

一个重要因素是经济自由主义(自由之手)，这使得在英国领土上赚钱相对容易，因为英国解除了对市场的管制，拥有真正独立的司法体系。基本上，在英国殖民地投资是值得的(与今天的俄罗斯或中国相比，你不知道一些大人物是否会把你视为竞争对手，然后非法碾压你)。从本质上讲，当你在英国殖民地生活和工作时，确实有某种自由。英国人知道如何建立一个最低限度的政府，让人们自由发展。

The British Navy was large and well-trained, and thus was able to keep shipping and trading lanes under control, relatively free of piracy a reasonable amount of the time, again making investment worthwhile, and keeping foreign powers from taking over easily.
The British Empire at its peak controlled 13,700,000 square miles, nearly a quarter of the land area on earth. It was the largest empire in history and despite the vast distances which separated its territories from the Colonial Office in England, it was dominated by the British Navy. Britain controlled the sea lanes of the world and with them access to the trading ports. This provided trading advantages enjoyed by British manufacturers and merchants.

英国海军规模庞大，训练有素，因此能够控制航运和贸易通道，在相当长的一段时间内相对不受海盗侵扰，再次使投资物有所值，并防止外国势力轻易接管。
大英帝国在其鼎盛时期控制了1370万平方英里，几乎占地球陆地面积的四分之一。它是历史上最大的帝国，尽管它的领土与英国的殖民地办公室相距遥远，但它由英国海军统治。英国控制了世界上的海上通道，并由此控制了通往贸易港口的通道。这为英国制造商和商人提供了贸易优势。

Another fact to consider was that the British Empire was the first to truly " colonise" as opposed to conquer. Local rulers still ruled, and were often bolstered by usually fair handed British. Infrastructure in colonised areas increased dramatically; it often sweetened the deal to the point that subjugating a country became a very smooth process as they didn't try to immediately shoehorn British values into everyday life.

另一个需要考虑的事实是，大英帝国是第一个真正的“殖民”，而不是征服。当地的统治者仍然统治着，并且经常得到公正的英国人的支持。殖民地地区的基础设施急剧增加;它经常使交易变得甜蜜，以至于征服一个国家成为一个非常顺利的过程，因为他们没有试图立即将英国的价值观硬塞进日常生活。

As a caveat, the British Empire was by no means free of the atrocities that every empire practiced upon its colonial subjects. The Mau Mau uprising, the treatment of the Kikuyu, the famine in India, the destruction of Ventersburg, the Boer concentration camps, the Amristar massacre and the slave trade are some of the horrors that stain the history of Great Britain and all other mighty empires.

需要提醒的是，大英帝国绝不可能没有任何帝国对其殖民地臣民实施的暴行。茅茅起义、对待基库尤人、印度饥荒、温特斯堡的毁灭、布尔集中营、阿姆里斯达大屠杀和奴隶贸易，这些恐怖事件都是英国和其他所有强大帝国历史上的污点。

Carl C
I would say, overall, it should be the British Empire.
First, at its greatest extent in year 1920, the Empire controlled a total of 35.5 million km2, equivalent to 23.84% of world land area. Therefore, at the peak of its power, the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" was often used to describe the British Empire.
Secondly, in terms of state power, indicating both economic and military power, the British Empire was the foremost global power for over a century. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time.

我想说，总的来说，应该是大英帝国。
首先，在1920年达到鼎盛时期，帝国总共控制了3550万平方公里，相当于世界陆地面积的23.84%。因此，在其鼎盛时期，人们经常用“日不落帝国”来形容大英帝国。
其次，就国家实力而言，无论是经济实力还是军事实力，大英帝国都是一个多世纪以来最重要的全球大国。到1913年，大英帝国统治了4.12亿人，占当时世界人口的23%。

Thirdly, The Empire established the use of English in regions around the world. Today it is the primary language of up to 400 million people and is spoken by about one and a half billion as a first, second or foreign language.
Fourthly, the English parliamentary system has served as the template for the governments for many former colonies, and English common law for legal systems.

第三，大英帝国在全球范围内推广了英语的使用。如今，有多达4亿人以英语作为第一语言，并有大约15亿人将其作为第一、第二或外语使用。
第四，英国的议会制度成为许多前殖民地政府的模板，英国普通法对法律制度产生了影响。
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Lastly, let us take two examples to show how successful were the British management of their colonies. Last I checked, it only took just over a thousand British officers in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) headed by the Secretary of State for India, a member of the British cabinet, to rule over their crown colony, British India. And a similar situation applied to Hong Kong, where it was governed by a tiny elite group of British officers under the governor. This alone truly shows the efficiency and efficacy of the British colonial rule. And colonial brutalities like the GENOCIDEs and massacres committed by Western colonizers, especially the Spaniards in the Americas, were hardly heard of in British India.

最后，让我们举两个例子来说明英国人对其殖民地的管理是多么成功。据我所知，在英国内阁成员印度事务大臣的领导下，印度公务员制度(ICS)只花了一千多名英国官员，就统治了他们的直辖殖民地英属印度。香港也有类似的情况，香港由港督领导下的一小群英国军官精英统治。仅这一点就足以说明英国殖民统治的效率和效力。西方殖民者，尤其是西班牙人在美洲犯下的种族灭绝和大屠杀等殖民暴行，在英属印度几乎没有听说过。

Julio Cesar Pino
The Ottoman Empire, without question or competitors. “Had you looked down on earth from a telescope located on another planet you would have bet on Islam, under the banner of the Ottoman Empire, conquering the world in just a few years”, one historian observed. If we date the empire from the liberation of Constantinople by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 until the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk in 1923 we have before us not only the longest enduring empire in modern history but also a symbol of how to mold and model an empire.

奥斯曼帝国，毫无疑问也没有竞争者。一位历史学家说:“如果你用另一个星球上的望远镜俯视地球，你会打赌，伊斯兰教在奥斯曼帝国的旗帜下，将在短短几年内征服世界。”如果我们把这个帝国从1453年征服者穆罕默德解放君士坦丁堡算起，直到1923年凯末尔·阿塔图尔克宣布土耳其共和国成立，那么摆在我们面前的不仅是现代史上最持久的帝国，而且还是一个塑造和建立帝国的典范。

The Ottoman Empire contained, aside from the Turks, Kurds, Bosnians, Arabs, Albanians, Jews, Slavs, Berbers and Black Africans, to name only the leading minorities. In fact, during the Middle Ages when Jews were being killed and persecuted throughout Europe the Ottoman rulers gave home to the world’s largest Jewish population. The Empire tolerated and honored Christianity by keeping and upkeeping churches, including in Istanbul. The Ottomans also respected the rights of minorities to maintain their local languages.

奥斯曼帝国除了包括土耳其人、库尔德人、波斯尼亚人、阿拉伯人、阿尔巴尼亚人、犹太人、斯拉夫人、柏柏尔人和非洲黑人之外，还包括主要的少数民族。事实上，在中世纪，当犹太人在整个欧洲被杀害和迫害时，奥斯曼帝国统治者为世界上最大的犹太人提供了家园。帝国通过保留和维护教堂来容忍和尊重基督教，包括在伊斯坦布尔。奥斯曼人也尊重少数民族保持其当地语言的权利。

The military prowess of the Empire hardly needs elaboration or embellishing. Consider that as late as 1683 the Turks still lay siege to Vienna. 1683! After the English Civil War, after Newton, and at the start of the Enligtenment. Make note: a Neo-Ottoman Empire will emerge in a few decades if not sooner. By playing Russia and the United States against each other the Turks will take their rightful place as a world class military power and cultural role model

帝国的军事实力几乎不需要进一步描述或渲染。考虑到直到1683年，土耳其人仍在围攻维也纳。1683年！在英国内战之后，在牛顿之后，在启蒙运动开始之际。请注意：如果没有更快，几十年后将会出现一个新奥斯曼帝国。通过玩弄俄罗斯和美国之间的对抗，土耳其将成为世界一流的军事大国和文化榜样。

Felipe Rowder
The British Empire. Here the reasons:
a) Main Extent: Canada, The Caribbean, Egypt & Sudan, Kenya & Uganda, South Africa & Rhodesia, Indin Subcontinent, Malaysia & Australasia.
b) It's the main reason why we have English as main business language.
c) It has had affairs in a huge part of World's History, worldwide. Not even Latin-America was free from it's influence (Argentina).

大英帝国。以下是原因：
a) 主要领土：加拿大、加勒比地区、埃及和苏丹、肯尼亚和乌干达、南非和罗得西亚、印度次大陆、马来西亚和澳大利亚地区。
b) 这是我们将英语作为主要商务语言的主要原因。
c) 它在世界历史的广大部分地区都有事务。拉丁美洲甚至也无法摆脱它的影响（如阿根廷）。

Oyawale Dmitry
The Chinese empire. It stayed as a cohesive geopolitical unit for over 2,000 years. Everytime it broke into civil war, it would inevitably reunite. One could argue that it was not a single empire but rather a series of dynasties - but that applies to other empires like Rome too. All the other empires fell within a century or two anyways, to other powers, but China always remained China. China had a unique government system of Confucian meritocracy and authoritarian centralization that enabled it to stay large yet united for centuries.

中华帝国。它作为一个有凝聚力的地缘政治单位存在了2000多年。每当它爆发内战，它就不可避免地重新团结起来。有人可能会说，它不是一个单一的帝国，而是一系列的王朝——但这也适用于其他帝国，比如罗马。其他所有的帝国都在一两个世纪内被其他强国征服，但中国始终是中国。中国有一个独特的儒家精英统治和专制集权的政府体系，使它能够在几个世纪里保持庞大而统一。

So even though the British, Mongol, Roman, Ottoman, French, Spanish, Mughal, and Arab empires may have been more powerful at their peak, today their successor states are relatively average-sized countries, while China still possesses a large, multiethnic colonial empire.

因此，尽管英国、蒙古、罗马、奥斯曼、法国、西班牙、莫卧儿和阿拉伯帝国在鼎盛时期可能更强大，但今天他们的继承国是相对中等规模的国家，而中国仍然拥有一个庞大的、多民族的殖民帝国。

Jihan Parikh
I would say that the greatest and most successful empire was the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic preceding the Roman Empire was the first representational democracy in the world, and provided the base for all modern democracies. The Romans were highly skilled engineers, and built highways that connected all of its provinces together, allowing for quick transportation of supplies and also allowed armies to march quickly to defend Roman territories. These roads were extremely durable and some of them have survived even until now. The Roman Empire lasted approximately 1800–1900 years, making it the longest lasting empire in the history of mankind. Its infrastructure was unrivalled, and it had massive structures like the Colosseum and Aqueducts in each of its cities, which improved the sanitation in the city, and also provided entertainment. Its legions were also unrivalled, considered highly trained killing machines, that were flexible and adaptive.

我认为最伟大、最成功的帝国是罗马帝国。罗马帝国之前的罗马共和国是世界上第一个代议制民主，并为所有现代民主提供了基础。罗马人是技艺高超的工程师，他们修建了连接所有行省的高速公路，使物资的快速运输成为可能，也使军队能够快速行军保卫罗马领土。这些道路非常耐用，其中一些直到现在仍然存在。罗马帝国持续了大约1800-1900年，是人类历史上持续时间最长的帝国。它的基础设施是无与伦比的，它在每个城市都有像罗马斗兽场和渡槽这样的大型建筑，这改善了城市的卫生条件，也提供了娱乐。它的军团也是无与伦比的，被认为是训练有素的杀戮机器，灵活而适应性强。

Roman soldiers were also engineers as well, and could build complex structures like bridges and forts in a matter of hours. In fact, the Roman legionaries built most of the Roman roads. Romans had the longest lasting legacy ever. They shaped Europe, which in turn shaped the world. They modernised tribal people like the Spanish, the French(Gauls), the British and the Germans. All of them would just be a bunch of tribes if not for the Romans, and would go on to become the immensely powerful empires that moulded the fate of the world.

罗马士兵也是工程师，可以在几个小时内建造复杂的结构，如桥梁和堡垒。事实上，罗马的大部分道路都是罗马军团修建的。罗马人拥有最持久的遗产。他们塑造了欧洲，反过来又塑造了世界。他们使西班牙人、法国人(高卢人)、英国人和德国人等部落民族现代化。如果没有罗马人，这些国家都只是一堆部落，并将发展成为影响世界命运的强大帝国。

The United States of America, the most powerful country in the world right now, has the national animal and emblem of an eagle, just like the Romans, and its most important government buildings, like the Capitol building and the White House are derived from Roman infrastructure. The resemblance is uncanny.

美国是当今世界上最强大的国家，它的国兽和国徽是一只鹰，就像罗马人一样，它最重要的政府建筑，比如国会大厦和白宫，都是源自罗马的基础设施。这种相似是不可思议的。

Bill Blais
That would be the United States of America. Interesting that no other answer said that— gives a great insight to how we sell ourselves to ourselves.
But American expansion originated with the idea of “manifest destiny”— that we were racially, intellectually, and temperamentally “destined” to conquer North America. In time, manifest destiny was overtaken by imperialism, the notion of extending a nation’s influence throughout the world, economically and diplomatically, but by force if necessary. At the turn of the 20th century, the prevailing arguments were for America to take its place as an imperialist nation. And it did.

那就是美利坚合众国。有趣的是，没有其他答案这么说——这让我们对如何向自己推销自己有了一个很好的认识。
但美国的扩张源于“天定命运”的理念——我们在种族、智力和气质上都“注定”要征服北美。随着时间的推移，昭昭天命被帝国主义所取代，帝国主义的概念是在世界范围内扩大一个国家的影响力，在经济和外交上，但必要时使用武力。在20世纪之交，盛行的观点是美国应该成为一个帝国主义国家。它确实做到了。

In the 20th century, the concept of imperialism faded from public discourse, but the actions of imperialism did not. While the US did not “capture” a lot of land in the first half of the century, it did “capture” economies— when the US went down to the Depression, it took most of the world with it. During WWII, the US spread its military across the globe. After the war, the US followed its military with a complete domination of the world’s economies.

在20世纪，帝国主义的概念从公共话语中消失了，但帝国主义的行为却没有。虽然美国在20世纪上半叶没有“占领”大量土地，但它确实“占领”了经济——当美国陷入大萧条时，它带走了世界上大部分地区。第二次世界大战期间，美国将其军事力量扩展到全球各地。二战结束后，美国继其军事力量之后，完全控制了世界经济。

Today, the US dollar is the reserve currency for the world. By edict, transactions in crude oil can only be made with US dollars. The US keeps over 800 military bases in more than 70 other countries around the world. English— American English— is inexorably becoming the common language of the world.

今天，美元是世界储备货币。根据法令，原油交易只能用美元进行。美国在全球70多个国家拥有800多个军事基地。英语——美式英语——正不可阻挡地成为世界通用语言。

By every indication and measure, and for good or ill, America is an empire. And it controls more territory, controls more of world’s economy, and has a vastly greater, more powerful, and farther-reaching military presence than any other empire in human history.

不论好坏，从任何迹象和标准来看，美国都是一个帝国。它控制着更多的领土，控制着更多的世界经济，拥有比人类历史上任何其他帝国更大、更强大、更深远的军事存在。

历史帝国伟大成功

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