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Le petit caporal wasn't petit

posted by Zed on April 9 2009 07:09

Wikipedia has a fun entry on common misconceptions including:

Napoleon Bonaparte was not especially short. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in modern international feet, or 1.686 metres, making him slightly taller than an average Frenchman of the 19th century. The metric system was introduced during his lifetime, so it was natural that he would be measured in feet and inches for much of his life. His nickname was "le petit caporal." There are competing explanations for why he was called this, but few modern scholars believe it referred to his stature.

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