The whole "Napoleon was short" thing is way overblown

I kept hearing how Napoleon had a complex because he was tiny, but I looked into it after a debate with my buddy last month. Turns out he was actually around 5'6" or 5'7" for his time, which was average or even above average for French men back then. The myth came from a mix up with French and English measurements plus propaganda from his enemies. Why do we still buy into this without checking the actual numbers?

3 comments

3 Comments

paulw531mo ago

The whole thing really took off because of a cartoon actually. There was this famous British caricature called "The Little Corporal" that made him look like a tiny angry guy in a big hat, and people just ran with it for centuries. Plus his personal guards were these massive grenadiers who were all over 6 feet tall, so standing next to them he looked like a kid by comparison. Mix that with the French inch being longer than the British inch and you get a perfect storm of misinformation that still sticks today. Crazy how one drawing and some unit confusion can rewrite history for 200 years.

brianm661mo ago

Add to that the fact Napoleon actually had a pretty normal height for his time, around 5'6" or 5'7" in modern feet. The French inch being about 1.06 British inches made his recorded height look even shorter when the British converted it wrong. So you had British propaganda cartoons, a measurement kerfuffle, and him standing next to giant bodyguards all feeding into this myth that stuck like glue. It's a classic example of how a simple mistake plus political bias can create a historical fact that nobody bothers to check.

juliarodriguez1mo ago

Have you ever tried explaining this to someone who's totally convinced Napoleon was a tiny guy? It's like they won't budge no matter how much proof you show them. I've had this same debate with my history buff friends and what usually works is showing them his actual measurements on a tape measure so they can see 5'6" isn't actually short. Plus you gotta point out that back then the average guy was maybe 5'4" or 5'5", so he was actually above average. Once they see the measurement trick with the French inch versus British inch, it usually clicks why the numbers got messed up. But yeah, that cartoon really did a number on his reputation, hard to fight against 200 years of jokes.