| Tango01 | 30 Apr 2016 11:30 a.m. PST |
"Nearly 200 years after his death, there are only two things that almost everyone uniformly knows about Napoleon Bonaparte: He was French, and he was short. Bonaparte was indeed French, but at about 5'7", he was taller than the average Frenchman of the time. Taller, in fact, than recent French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The only reason we think otherwise is because of one of the most successful trolling campaigns of all time. Napoleon hated being depicted as short, and that's exactly why 19th century Brits set out to do it as much as humanly possible…"
See here
link Amicalement
Armand |
| RavenscraftCybernetics | 30 Apr 2016 12:49 p.m. PST |
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| Gazzola | 30 Apr 2016 1:05 p.m. PST |
RavenscraftCybernetics Only for those over 5' 7". LOL But I believe it was average height for the period. |
| Gazzola | 30 Apr 2016 1:07 p.m. PST |
Tango01 I know where you found this topic. It is one of those myths that will unfortunately keep popping up. But it keeps people interested for a few posts and then disappears again until someone else pops it up again. And then it…… |
| Cerdic | 30 Apr 2016 1:42 p.m. PST |
He may not have been short, but he was still French…. |
| Gazzola | 30 Apr 2016 1:54 p.m. PST |
Tango01 See what I mean. People tend to believe what they want to believe, rather than accept the truth. It probably helps them sleep better. LOL |
robert piepenbrink  | 30 Apr 2016 3:26 p.m. PST |
He wasn't even French. The French just bought Corsica about the time he was born, and comes the Revolution, he looked pretty closely at being the great Corsican liberator until he realized Paoli had that spot taken. And evidently his Corsican accent speaking French was as bad as Stalin's Georgian accent speaking Russian and Hitler's Austrian take on…Are we seeing a pattern here? |
| Hafen von Schlockenberg | 30 Apr 2016 7:32 p.m. PST |
Overcompensation,yes. Big time. |
| dibble | 30 Apr 2016 9:54 p.m. PST |
It's amazing what wedges and thick stockings can do for ones height. Paul :) |
| Tango01 | 30 Apr 2016 10:51 p.m. PST |
For those days… he wasn't short at all… Also… many great Generals fought on that Era in another countries and they were successful either… any like the Emperor of course!… (smile) Accent wasn't a problem… in many places in France you cannot understand their french till today!… (smile) I beleive what the article said … pure propaganda to demystify a feared figure in England… Amicalement
Armand |
| Gazzola | 01 May 2016 3:17 a.m. PST |
Tango01 There are people in the UK who cannot understand other people in the UK. LOL And as for a commander or leader of a country, I think the last thing anyone would be concerned about would be their accents. In terms of height we know the Anti-Nappers like to play on it even though they know he was of average height for the time. They get a buzz out of it yet at the same time blow their tops in an incorrect fact was made about people like Wellington or Blucher. It makes you laugh really. In fact, the height topic has been discussed recently on the Napoleonic Series site and Tom Holmberg states that Napoleon was the same average height of a British Tommy in World War One. (dibble won't like that) But for the Anti-Nappers it will always be a case of why let the truth get in the way of a good myth or put down, unless of course it is against an allied personality. It also shows the power of propaganda. And of course, to some, it is always bad when Napoleon or the French do it but fine when the British do it. The Brits are the kings of hypocrisy. But it is amusing to see them get so wound up about it. |
| Cerdic | 01 May 2016 1:54 p.m. PST |
Gazzola.. I was trying to highlight that both of the things that 'everyone' knows about Napoleon are, in fact, wrong! He was neither short nor French! |
| Brechtel198 | 01 May 2016 2:15 p.m. PST |
Since France owned Corsica when Napoleon was born, he was French by birth. |
| Brechtel198 | 01 May 2016 2:16 p.m. PST |
5'7" is short. Not in the late 18th and early 19th centuries-it was average height. The average height for a male today in the United States is 5.93 inches or 1.76 meters. |
| dibble | 01 May 2016 4:57 p.m. PST |
Brechtel The average height for a male today in the United States is 5.93 inches That tall? Paul :D |
| Brechtel198 | 01 May 2016 6:53 p.m. PST |
The average height for a male today in the United States is 5.93 inches or 1.76 meters. My error-it should read 5 feet, 7.93 inches. |
| Gazzola | 02 May 2016 5:39 a.m. PST |
Cedric Sssush! Don't tell the Anti-Nappers that! You know how upset they become when what they believe (or rather, want to believe) is shown not to be true. They'll be dropping like flies. LOL |
| Trev G | 02 May 2016 9:24 a.m. PST |
I think Brechtel198 you mean 5 foot 9.3 inches.
I can see where (and why) you made the mistake, easily done. |
| Brechtel198 | 02 May 2016 9:47 a.m. PST |
Yes, thanks very much and good catch. I am getting old… |
| Gennorm | 19 May 2016 9:27 a.m. PST |
I heard last week that the British Government sent particularly tall ambassadors to meet Napoleon in order to push the height issue. |
| 138SquadronRAF | 19 May 2016 9:42 a.m. PST |
Sssush! Don't tell the Anti-Nappers that! You know how upset they become when what they believe (or rather, want to believe) is shown not to be true. Well you can put me in that camp without much trouble, but I don't consider him short based on period paintings. Indeed I'd sooner see him accurately represented. The problem is that a short Napoleon seems to have become a cultural meme though. YouTube link Or this starting at 2:15 YouTube link For those who thing that Gillray was unfair to Napoleon, you should see how he represented British politicians. BTW if you're need the British Museum it's worth calling in at the Cartoon Museum too: link As an aside I do not consider Napoleon to but an overate general – that certainly applies to Robert E. Lee though. |
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