Nobody knew that the war was going to last over four years,

谁曾料到这场战争将延续长达四年
and kill millions of people,

死伤数以百万
and mark the end of four empires,

同时标志着四个帝国的终结
and, arguably, help contribute to the end of the fifth,

并一定程度上导致了第五个帝国
that is the British Empire

也就是大英帝国的衰落
and the impetus toward decolonization that comes out of World War I.

并引发了一战之后的反殖民浪潮
Nobody knew that the war that was supposed to be over by December

谁曾料到这场本应在十二月就结束的战争
wasn't going to be over by December.

并没有在十二月结束
Outside of a couple of journalists,

几个随军记者
who had been following the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria

在日俄战争的满洲国前线
and had seen kind of the evolution of trenches,

亲眼目睹了战壕的演化过程
nobody predicted that kind of war.

之前没有人想到会出现这样的战争形式