Today I'm going to do a fairly impossible task,

今天我要完成一项几乎不可能的任务
which is to talk mostly about Eastern Europe in the interwar period.

大致谈一下两次世界大战期间的东欧
I sent around a rather lengthy list of terms,

我发给了你们一长串术语的名单
so I don't have to write it on the board

那样我就不用往黑板上写了
and you can't see it anyway.

反正你们也看不清
I'll work from that, so it'll help you understand.

我会从这些术语开始讲来帮助你们听懂
But the big points are clear, and the maps will help you as well.

但是我会突出重点同时运用地图来帮忙
Just a couple things at the beginning, which are perfectly obvious.

首先我想谈谈几个众所周知的问题
In 1914, few people could have imagined

1914年正值一战前夕没人会想到