在二战中遭受超过二千万军民死亡的俄罗斯没有任何理由感谢希特勒。

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的周三，即纳粹入侵苏联的巴巴罗萨行动75周年纪念日，是时候让我们重新回顾一下这个历史上最大的讽刺事件。阿道夫.希特勒沉迷于将俄罗斯变成德国最大的殖民地，以及奴隶俄罗斯人民。可笑的是最终一半德国领土被红军占领，人民臣服于俄罗斯帝国。当400万纳粹士兵于1941年6月22日穿过苏联边境时，他们幻想着看到克林姆宫的塔尖，事与愿违的是这次行动造成的一系列后果至今影响着世界。

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.

如果认为希特勒之前的俄罗斯不是强国，那么这种想法是愚蠢的。丰富的自然资源和人口使俄罗斯至少从18世纪开始就是一个大国，一个足以摧毁拿破仑军队的庞然大物（拿破仑当时也认为俄罗斯很容易被征服）。在75年后，我们很难想象那时的世界权力格局与当今有多么不同。

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年代末时，美国的军队规模小于罗马尼亚，现今驱逐舰都不能航行在温水海域的英国在当时占有全球四分之一领土，并且被认为拥有全球最强大的海军。如今经常被“我投降”拿来开涮的法国在当时的西欧拥有最强大的陆军。如今被认为不具有军事力量的德国，从1870年代开始就威胁其邻国、

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年代时，神秘的社会主义国家俄罗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兰。不仅是希特勒和他的将军们认为俄罗斯会像纸牌屋一样倒塌，甚至英国和美国专家也不认为莫斯科能挺过希特勒的闪电袭击。然而在1945年5月，英国和法国一样变得满目疮痍，德国人亲眼目睹俄罗斯坦克开过柏林废墟。就像鲜血淋漓依然依然获得胜利的拳击手一样，俄罗斯最终站了起来，并在接下来超过五十年的时间里成为世界两个超级大国之一。

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?

如果二战没有发生，如果希特勒依然是维也纳一个失败的画家或者在慕尼黑的啤酒大厅中炸弹暗杀中身亡，今天的俄罗斯会是什么样？