Was Napoleon Bonaparte Short?
Did You Know?: Was Napoleon Really Short?
And we often quote him as an example to illustrate that limitations can be overcome easily because Short Napoleon was one of the greatest of all conquerors. There is also a term 'Napoleon complex' to informally refer to the …
Publish Date: 05/03/2011 7:39
http://factsworthknowing.blogspot.com/2011/05/was-napoleon-really-short.html
Past Figures, Present Rides: Napoleon Bonaparte – CarLocate Blog
Lastly, Napoleon was known for being short, and the Napoleon Complex, (type of inferiority complex which affects people, especially men, who are short in stature) was named after him. Check back in two weeks for our next …
Publish Date: 09/21/2011 12:21
http://www.carlocate.com/Blog/post/2011/09/21/Past-Figures-Present-Rides-Napoleon-Bonaparte.aspx
Napoleon Bonaparte Is Thought To Have Been Short.
But was it because of his height?
A Bit On The Short-Side?
Napoleon Bonaparte is always thought of as having been short.
But was it because of his height?
Bonaparte was 5′ 6″ (1.686 in meters) which was not particularly short in 1821.
His nickname was The Little Corporal (Le petit corporal) but many modern day scholars believe that the shortness referred to something other than his height.
What do you guys and gals think?
Related posts:
Napoleon is often cited as a major example of the supposed “short man syndrome”, which claims that short people act more aggressively than their larger counterparts in order to make up for their lack of height.
There is however a much more logical reason as to why he was called, The Little Corporal.
He was surrounded by huge bodyguards, and this is especially true of the Imperial Guard units which had very large height requirements.
The fact that Napoleon’s first wife, Josephine, was possibly taller than him and that he is said to have asked her not to wear heels so as not to appear taller than him, most likely added to the myth.
A description of Napoleon by Doctor Corvisart in 1802:
“Napoleon was of short stature, about five feet two inches by French measure [5 feet 6 inches, English measure], and well built, though the bust was rather long.
Go figure that out
The myth that Napoleon was short stems primarily from the fact that he was listed as 5 feet 2 inches tall at the time of his death.
However, this is 5 feet 2 inches in French units.
In modern international units, he was just shy of 5 feet 7 inches.
Knowing that the French use the metric system I was confused by all this so I checked it out and:
In France, before the decimalised metric system of 1799, a well-defined old system existed, however with some local variants.
For instance, the lieue could vary from 3.268 km in Beauce to 5.849 km in Provence.
Between 1812 and 1839, many of the traditional units continued in metrified adaptations as the mesures usuelles.
The French law for the definitive metre of 1799 states that one decimal metre is exactly 443.296 French lines, or 3 French feet, 0 French inches and 11.296 French lines.
The French royal foot is exactly 9000/27706 metres, or about 0.3248 meters.
A report that I read many moons ago said that the French led the Russians when it came to small p**** size.
plus ça change, plus c’est pareil
The French however continue to insist the it’s quality and not quantity that matters.
And there’s some truth in that, but denial is never good.