In the context of the Prussian aristocracy, the nobles, the Junkers,

普鲁士的那些贵族望族容克地主
a term you already know,

这个专有名词你们应该知道
or Prussian nobles,

就是普鲁士贵族
and that basically unified germany would be,

说到德国将会统一
as some wag once put it,

就像有些爱开玩笑的人说的那样
"An army with a state trailing behind it."

"军队背后拖着一个国家"
Germany would not be a republic; it would be an empire.

德国不会成为共和国而会成为帝国
Because one of the things that happens with empire is that

因为帝国的特点之一就是
emperors can do whatever they damn well please,

皇帝是可以为所欲为的
just as czars can,

就像俄国沙皇一样
and you might have had an assembly called the Reichstag,

在德国帝国议会中
in which socialists became the leaders

到1941年其中社会党人身居要职