When Alexander the First died in December 1825, it was just assumed that his next oldest brother, Grand Duke Constantine, would be next!
亚历山大一世1825年去世后,人们认为他的二弟康斯坦丁大公会继位成为沙皇
What followed instead was bloody confusion.
但是接下来发生的事情却让大家非常困惑,
A pathetically botched revolution and three decades of reactionary backwards militarism.
接下来发生的是失败的革命,还有三十年的倒退的军国主义
Segment 19d: The Gendarme of Europe.
片段19d:欧洲宪兵
Nicholas the First who rules from 1825 to 1855 never expected to become Tsar.
1825年到1855年统治的尼古拉一世从未想过自己会成为沙皇
As the third son of Tsar Paul the First, he was directed towards a military career.
作为保罗一世的第三子,他向着军事领域发展
He served bravely in the war against Napoleon and would have happily spent the rest of his life in the army.
他在对拿破仑的战争中英勇作战,并且很乐意余生都是戎马生涯
But since Alexander the First died without legitimate offspring, one of his brothers would have to succeed. Which one?
但是亚历山大一世过世后却并没有留下合法子嗣,他的弟弟之一必须要继承王位,哪一位呢
The oldest living brother Prince Constantine was assumed to be the Tsarevich,
最大的弟弟康斯坦丁大公被认为应该做皇储
but Constantine had secretly given up claim to the throne so he could marry, gasp, a Polish woman!
但是康斯坦丁已经暗暗放弃了对皇位的要求,这样他便能够同一位波兰女士结婚了
Not even Nicholas knew about this arrangement even though it made him heir to the Russian throne.
尼古拉自己也不知道哥哥的安排,虽然这种安排,这种安排使他登上了俄国皇位
When Alexander died, Nicholas had to be talked into climbing the throne before either the northern or the southern opposition groups started to seize power.
亚历山大一去世,尼古拉就要登上皇位以避免南方或北方的势力攫取权力