Apr 04
Napoleon was really about 5feet 7 inches tall - a slightly taller than average height for a Frenchmen in the early 1800s. Turns out the guy got a bum rap as a result of an autopsy measurement that placed him at 5′2”. The measurement was accurate, but in French feet. 5′7” is his accurate measurement in Imperial English feet. My guess is Napoleon would be conflicted about the resulting confusion. On the one hand, his ego would be bruised. On the other hand, this simple misconception coupled with his nickname, “le petit caporal,” further served to immortalize the man. A little shy of a decade short (sorry for the pun) of 200 years since his death, we still think of feisty, diminutive people as suffering from a “Napoleon Complex.”