Chapter Fourteen: The Rise of Prussia / 第十四章：普鲁士的兴起

Imagine that you're at a huge family家庭/ˈfæməli/ reunion团聚/riˈjuːniən/, where all of your aunts阿姨们/ænts/, uncles叔叔们/ˈʌŋkəlz/, cousins表兄弟姐妹/ˈkʌzənz/, second cousins, and third cousins are gathered聚集/ˈɡæðərd/ together. Everyone is talking at the same time. Everyone wants to know what part of the family家庭/ˈfæməli/ you belong to.

"And who are you?" one of your third cousins asks you. "I'm a Smith史密斯(姓氏)/smɪθ/," you might answer. You want everyone to know that you're not a Johnson, or a Lee, or a White. You and your parents父母/ˈpeərənts/ and your brothers兄弟们/ˈbrʌðərz/ and sisters姐妹们/ˈsɪstərz/ are all Smiths. That's an important重要的/ɪmˈpɔːrtənt/ part of who you are!

But now try to imagine想象/ɪˈmædʒɪn/ that your family家庭/ˈfæməli/ doesn't identify确认身份/aɪˈdentɪfaɪ/ itself by its last name. Instead, you name yourselves after the room房间/ruːm/ in the house房子/haʊs/ where you spend most of your time. When your third cousin says, "Who are you?" you might answer, "I'm an Upstairs North Bedroom卧室/ˈbedruːm/!" or "I'm a Downstairs Computer Room!"

You're all still members of one family家庭/ˈfæməli/—but it's more important重要的/ɪmˈpɔːrtənt/ that you're a Downstairs Computer Room or an Upstairs North Bedroom.

That's how Germans德国人/ˈdʒɜːrmənz/ thought of themselves, after the Thirty Years' War三十年战争/ˈθɜːrti jɪrz wɔːr/. If you lived in England英格兰/ˈɪŋɡlənd/, you were English. If you lived in Spain西班牙/speɪn/, you were Spanish. But if you lived in one of the little German states国家，州/steɪts/, you probably didn't think of yourself as "German." You were a citizen公民/ˈsɪtɪzən/ of your little state.

And there were three hundred百/ˈhʌndrəd/ little German states, each ruled统治/ruːld/ over by a prince王子，亲王/prɪns/.

But then one of those princes王子们/ˈprɪnsɪz/ decided to build建立/bɪld/ his little state into a kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/—a German kingdom.

Prince Frederick腓特烈/ˈfredərɪk/ ruled the German state of Brandenburg勃兰登堡/ˈbrændənbɜːrɡ/, in the eastern part of Germany. Frederick had also inherited继承/ɪnˈherɪtɪd/ another little kingdom—the kingdom of Prussia普鲁士/ˈprʌʃə/, even farther east than Brandenburg.

Brandenburg lay within the borders边界/ˈbɔːrdərz/ of the Holy Roman Empire神圣罗马帝国/ˈhoʊli ˈroʊmən ˈempaɪər/, so when Frederick was in Brandenburg, he had to obey服从/oʊˈbeɪ/ the Holy Roman Emperor皇帝/ˈempərər/. But Prussia wasn't part of the Holy Roman Empire. When Frederick was in Prussia, he didn't have to obey anyone.

So Frederick asked the Holy Roman Emperor for permission许可/pərˈmɪʃən/ to call himself "King of Prussia." The Holy Roman Emperor was grateful感激的/ˈɡreɪtfəl/ to Frederick, who had helped him fight off the armies军队/ˈɑːrmiz/ of Louis XIV路易十四/ˈluːi ˌfɔːrˈtiːn/—and Prussia wasn't part of his empire帝国/ˈempaɪər/ anyway. So he agreed.

But he only gave Frederick permission to call himself "King in Prussia." He wanted Frederick to remember that he could not behave表现/bɪˈheɪv/ like a king in Brandenburg—only in Prussia!

In January of 1701, Frederick rode to Königsberg柯尼斯堡/ˈkøːnɪçsbɛʁk/, in Prussia, and held a coronation加冕典礼/ˌkɔːrəˈneɪʃən/ ceremony仪式/ˈserəmoʊni/ for himself. He dressed himself in scarlet深红色的/ˈskɑːrlət/ robes and sat on a royal throne王座/θroʊn/. He put the crown王冠/kraʊn/ on his own head, put his scepter权杖/ˈseptər/ into his own hand, and announced, "I am now King Frederick I!"

Then he marched to his wife's rooms and crowned加冕/kraʊnd/ her queen王后/kwiːn/. Afterward, he held a huge royal feast盛宴/fiːst/. Now he was the Prussian King!

Frederick didn't actually have permission to be a king in Brandenburg. But when he paraded back into Brandenburg, he entered its largest city, Berlin柏林/bərˈlɪn/, like a king. Cannons大炮/ˈkænənz/ fired. All over the city, bells钟声/belz/ rang. Candles and torches and lanterns灯笼/ˈlæntərnz/ were lit in every window so that the city glowed like a star.

Like Louis XIV路易十四/ˈluːi ˌfɔːrˈtiːn/, Frederick wanted to be an absolute绝对的/ˈæbsəluːt/ monarch君主/ˈmɑːnərk/, obeyed without question by all of his people. But he knew that the Holy Roman Emperor wouldn't approve—and he didn't have a strong enough army军队/ˈɑːrmi/ or enough money to wage wars战争/wɔːrz/, collect taxes税收/ˈtæksɪz/, and behead his enemies.

So instead, Frederick just behaved表现/bɪˈheɪvd/ like an absolute monarch. He called his entire kingdom "Prussia," so that all of his subjects臣民/ˈsʌbdʒɪkts/ (even the ones in Brandenburg) could call him their king. He spent enormous amounts of money on feasts盛宴/fiːsts/ and elaborate ceremonies仪式/ˈserəmoʊniz/. His court宫廷/kɔːrt/ was one of the most splendid辉煌的/ˈsplendɪd/ in Europe!

His son later said, "My father had the appearance外表/əˈpɪrəns/ of kingship long before he was truly a king." But Frederick's play-acting helped the citizens公民/ˈsɪtɪzənz/ of his kingdom—both inside and outside of the Holy Roman Empire—begin to think of themselves as members of one Prussian kingdom.

Imagine that your parents get tired of everyone calling themselves "Upstairs North Bedroom" or "Downstairs Computer Room" and decide, "We should all think of ourselves as Smiths!" But instead of commanding you to call yourself a Smith, they hold a big party to show how proud自豪的/praʊd/ they are to be Smiths. Every morning, they parade through every room, singing, "We are Smiths! How lucky幸运的/ˈlʌki/ you all are to be Smiths!" After months of this, you might start thinking of yourself as a Smith, rather than a Downstairs Computer Room!

That's a little like what happened in Frederick's new kingdom of Prussia. Frederick encouraged鼓励/ɪnˈkɜːrɪdʒd/ all of his people to think of themselves as citizens of the German kingdom of Prussia.

Until this time, people in most countries were loyal忠诚的/ˈlɔɪəl/ to a piece of land土地/lænd/ (like the island of Britain) or to a monarch (like Louis XIV or Philip II of Spain). But Frederick knew that his kingdom was made up of two different pieces of land and that his power as monarch was limited有限的/ˈlɪmɪtɪd/. So he wanted Prussians to be loyal to something different: a state国家/steɪt/.

Prussians learned to pay allegiance效忠/əˈliːdʒəns/ to an idea概念/aɪˈdiːə/ of a German kingdom, ruled by a German king. They used the word Reich帝国(德语)/raɪx/—the German word for "kingdom"—to refer to this German kingdom!

Frederick spent most of his reign统治/reɪn/ building this idea of a German kingdom called Prussia. He founded建立/ˈfaʊndɪd/ a great Prussian university大学/ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːrsəti/, as well as a Prussian Academy of the Arts and a Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. He gave this Academy of Science the job of studying the German language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ and teaching all Prussians how to use it properly!

Frederick's son, Frederick William I腓特烈·威廉一世/ˈfredərɪk ˈwɪljəm/, took Frederick's ideas even further. He formally announced that both Prussia and Brandenburg were part of the Prussian kingdom. He made the army stronger. And then Frederick's grandson, Frederick II腓特烈二世/ˈfredərɪk tuː/, took his grandfather's "kingdom in name" and turned it into a real power.

He fought to add land to Prussia. He built himself a royal palace宫殿/ˈpæləs/, not in Königsberg, but in Brandenburg itself. He gave Prussians a reason to be proud of their Prussian state! For this, Frederick's grandson became known as Frederick the Great腓特烈大帝/ˈfredərɪk ðə ɡreɪt/. And one day, the Prussian kingdom that his grandfather had established would become the modern country of Germany德国/ˈdʒɜːrməni/.