2015-07-01

【Aiden in English】

        Conquering land seems like managing your money. You gain a few countries through bloody and costly battles and reap great rewards of land and more goods. But just how far you invest in a country, or in this case, 316 square km/196 sq. miles of barren land.

        The archipelago of Malta is not rich in resources at all. You might even have difficulty locating it on the map. However, its history is written in very large fonts as old as 7,000 years. In a rise of an empire, more land, no matter what, is positive. Malta, as we all believe, was an exception. Many strong conquests stood in their way: the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, the Byzantine, the Knight of Saint John, the Arabs, the French, and the British over several millenniums. The Byzantine Empire was a powerful force here for about 400 years. Amongst all of the colonists, the Knights of St. John proved to have been the most formidable since 1530. The natives of Malta had accepted the Knights to stay with them for a while. 

        The Turks were invading then, and the year was 1565. The Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent attacked the ancient capital of Mdina at the time. The Turkish brought 35,000 top-notch warriors with them, while 541 Knights of St. John led by their Grand Master LaValette and several thousand brave but untrained local volunteers made a rag-tag wanna-be club. To make things worse, a famous Ottoman tactic was to preach a religion that involved making everyone not afraid to die. In addition, the Turks had their own hand-to-hand combat style, and the troops all came through 3-5 years of military school. Yep, the veterans of many wars went against the newbies. The Turkish equipment was much better as well. Now, you might think the deal was sealed, and it wasn’t until a few surprises. The Great Siege of Malta lasted about four months of savage combat, which back then sounded pretty long. It doesn’t seem like today where a nuclear bomb just about settles all the land issues because there isn’t any land left! Finally, the Ottoman’s army escaped in disgrace, considering that the war was basically over because most of their soldiers were dead. There remained about 150 knights with their tenacity, but what surprised the Turks was the other figure. The Ottomans suffered a total loss of 30,000 men, depleting their force to a bare minimum. The Turkish army fled later, bearing in mind that they were too weak to be in any sort of defending on the island against any other force, large or small.

        Around two centuries later, the ruler shifted to the French. Napoleon Bonaparte was writing history by pulling off conquering streak like no other when he captured it on his way to Egypt in 1798. He conquered Malta in exactly 1 day, looting much of the gold and silver. Yep, 24 hours were all it got to take over a land that once stood up to the mighty of the Knights of St. John. The soldiers had surrendered, and not a single shot was fired. What comes around and goes around though. The Maltese sought a help to fight away a powerful dominant force and the British were the perfect one to run begging to, which had a large and powerful fleet. They’ve got it. Check who wants to have colonial expansion. They’ve got it, too. Check who has a stupid, stubborn, and burning hatred to all people who are known as the following letters: F-R-E-N-C-H. The Maltese were simply poisoning all enemy water supplies. When the British reinforcements arrived and surrounded the fortresses, the French were poisoned and starving. Therefore, the French got a taste of its own poison, and left without firing a single shot 12 years later. There, and we have a perfect grocery checklist. So the beasts of Britain were on their way for the next 164 years, taking the mercy little time.

        Malta was involved in both WWI and WWII as the navy dockyards. In the end, the Maltese people got their well deserved independence from Britain surprisingly in 1964. They can finally stop saying “I’m a Turkish” or “I’m a British”, and now they are proud of Maltese. Good things really do come in small packages.

【紅霞譯文】

        統治疆域好比管理財富，靠屠殺掠奪去蠶食別國利益，為的是擴張勢力範圍以滿足私慾，但接下來的問題是如何促進國家發展，比方說眼前這片316平方公里即196平方英里不毛之地。

        馬耳他群島自然資源貧瘠，你甚至很難一下子在地圖上找到它，不過這些絲毫抹殺不掉其七千年悠久歷史。對於一個新興上升的帝國而言，國土越大聲譽越好，但大家一致認為，馬耳他卻需另當別論。幾千年來，馬耳他相繼淪陷於腓尼基、古希臘、迦太基、古羅馬、拜占庭、阿拉伯、聖約翰騎士團、法蘭西、英國等人手中，其中一度被拜占庭帝國統治長達四百年之久。在所有殖民時期，1530年以來聖約翰騎士團領導下的馬耳他被視為實力鼎盛的殖民地，聖約翰騎士團廣為當地人所接納。

        1565年蘇丹·蘇萊曼一世入侵，希望依靠武力攻克古都姆迪納，541名聖約翰騎士和數以千計從未受過訓練的平民百姓自願在大教長拉·瓦萊塔的率領下英勇抵抗35000名突厥族正規軍。但事情壞就壞在奧斯曼派來的精兵強將篤信宗教信仰，在戰場上視死如歸，他們不僅擁有三～五年軍校訓練基礎，而且天不怕地不怕勇於發揚肉搏戰民族傳統。毫無疑問，這是一場久經沙場的老兵與初出茅廬的新手之間的殊死較量。土耳其部隊裝備精良，至此你肯定覺得他們必勝無疑，不過切莫妄下結論。經過浴血奮戰，歷時四個月的“馬耳他大圍攻”終於宣告結束，按照當時情形，四個月相當漫長，哪像如今扔顆原子彈瞬間解決問題，而且全部燒成灰燼！總之，奧斯曼死傷慘重，以至於潰不成軍，最後釀成奇恥大辱。約有150聖約翰騎士團成員頑強地活了下來，而敵對一方死亡人數超出人們想象，總計30000名土耳其士兵斷送了性命，大大削弱了戰鬥力，奧斯曼軍隊不得不倉皇逃竄，無力再經受任何挑戰。

        大約過了兩個世紀，殖民統治階級改朝換代，這回變成法蘭西人。1798年，拿破崙一世在進軍埃及途中不費吹灰之力一舉拿下馬耳他，歐洲歷史就此重新改寫。雖然他僅在那裡逗留了一天，但卻掠奪了足夠的金銀財寶。是啊，他在廿四小時之內目睹敵方投降，毋需浪費一顆槍子便推翻了顯赫一時的聖約翰騎士團。事情來得快去得也快，馬耳他人四處尋求幫助，而英國海軍艦隊實力雄厚，不久便成為馬耳他的座上客，趁機完成了殖民擴張，那些自視聰明、不把別人放在眼裡、招惹天下人憎惡的法─蘭─西─人全部被驅逐出境。原來馬耳他人暗中給敵人水源投入毒藥，使法國佬因中毒飢餓致死，親口嘗到自己埋下的惡果，想不到在統治了十二年之後，同樣沒有放一槍開一炮，馬耳他人以其人之道還治其人之身。待以上所有事項進行完畢，英國冠冕堂皇地開始了對馬耳他實施長達164年的殖民政策。

        作為軍用碼頭，馬耳他參與了第一次和第二次世界大戰。1964年，馬耳他人得以擺脫英國統治，直到那時才敢拒說“我是土耳其人”或者“我是英國人”，命運之神終於降臨，他們從今往後將以馬耳他人為榮。好事多磨難。