T___A Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 He was, or at least the people at the time thought he was. You see the whole french inch thing is probably an anachronism that was invented to reconcile his "tallish" height of 5'6 which was considered short for the time. This isn't a phenomenon unique to Napoleon, for instance Martin Van Buren at a height of 5'6 was nicknamed the "Little Magician" or Alexander H. Stephens who at 5'7 was called by Lincoln the "Tallest short man he ever met". So yeah the Napoleon short thing is retarded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 Interesting, then that would suggest that average height got a lot higher from the 17th Century to the 18th Century, because basically all the skeletons from St. Mary's City were short motherfuckers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tied Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 Not to mention you start to look pretty short when surrounded my military men in their physical prime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 It isn't like there weren't any tall guys around either. Peter the Great and George Washington were pretty tall guys for even today's standard iirc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SergeantMatt Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 He was 5'6", yes, but that wasn't considered short at the time. That was the height of the average Frenchman at the time. http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/abstract/population/vital/c_heights1.html In fact, if that site is accurate, the average Frenchman at the time was only 5'4.5". American men were notably taller, at around 5'8", which would explain both of the Americans you referenced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperComrade Posted October 8, 2015 Report Share Posted October 8, 2015 Peter the Great was 6' 7" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashbotUS Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 All his uniforms on display at the army museum in Paris looked the same size as most of the other period uniforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxn Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 T__A fighting valiantly against a myth, born as a reaction to a myth, which turns out to in no way be a myth. This performance art shit is off the hook. T___A, EnsignExpendable and Sturgeon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xthetenth Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 Interesting, then that would suggest that average height got a lot higher from the 17th Century to the 18th Century, because basically all the skeletons from St. Mary's City were short motherfuckers. The 17th Century is notable for having the granddady of all the demographic demolishing events, and it brought a whole bucketload of malnutrition. However I'm not 100% sure about those skellies in particular. Belesarius 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Fight Posted October 16, 2015 Report Share Posted October 16, 2015 You also have to take into account that lots of politicians and people of power are pretty damned tall. I got struck by that meeting politicians. It makes sense, since it lends to the air of charisma, and helps in public apperances. It's not really a rule, but if you're examining the judgement of people that would be around Napoleon the most (military and dignitary types), then you'll probably see a general trend in opinion. Sturgeon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.