Napoleon bonaparte
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Bullet Point #15- Was Napoleon small?
Author(s) : LENTZ Thierry
Each “Bullet Point” will confront a question related to the First Empire. My remarks are designed to form the basis for debate and, I hope, research.
(Thierry Lentz, July 2018, translation RY)
Nicknamed by his soldiers “le petit corporal” or “le petit tondu”, Napoleon measured five foot, two inches and three lines tall, equivalent to 1,686 metres. By today’s standards, he would be considered on the small side; however, this was not the case in his day. Then, the average height of a Frenchman was about 1.60 m. And infantry conscripts at the time were between 1.65 and 1.69 metres tall. Napoleon was therefore of average height for his time, a fact which paintings of him do not account for since he was always represented surrounded by generals and soldiers (the grenadiers of the guard were never less than 1,76 m) wearing tall hats with plumets. Neither, in his later years, would the Emperor’s expanding waistline have the effect of increasing his stature. It has to be s
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One of the world’s most instantly recognizable cultural icons, Napoleon Bonaparte is usually depicted with one hand in his waistcoat—and short and aggressive. His supposedly small stature and fiery temper has inspired the term the Napoleon Complex, a popular belief that short men tend to compensate for their lack of height through domineering behavior and aggression.
But was Napoleon really short?
In fact, he was probably of average height. According to pre–metric system French measures, he was a diminutive 5′2.” But the French inch (pouce) of the time was 2.7 cm, while the Imperial inch was shorter, at 2.54 cm. Three French sources—his valet Constant, General Gourgaud, and his personal physician Francesco Antommarchi—said that Napoleon's height was just over ‘5 pieds 2 pouces’ (5’2”). Applying the French measurements of the time, that equals around1.67 meters, or just under 5’6”, which is a little above average for a French man in the early 1800s.
British Cartoonist James Gillray's Famous Depictions
So if Napoleon was of average height, where does the legend
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Was Napoleon even short? Inside the history of discrimination against short men
Who was Napoleon?
Napoleon Bonaparte first gained fame when he helped France wrest an unlikely victory against the Austrians in Italy in 1796—earning him the nickname the “Little Corporal.” His military prowess led to even more victories, all characterized by daring, even foolhardy, strategies. Hailed as a national hero, he seized political power over France in a 1799 coup. As emperor, he attempted to expand France’s reach across the world.
Napoleon had charisma and huge ambitions. But throughout his life and career, Napoleon was ridiculed for his short stature. His own soldiers gave him several pet names, most of which started with “le petit” (“the little”), and he was consistently portrayed by his critics as a tiny, pugnacious man who attempted to make up for his height by intimidating and dominating those around him.
The most enduring parodies were created by James Gillray, a British caricaturist who helped birth the modern political cartoon. Gillray never saw Napoleon in person. But he mock
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