Why People Still Think Napoleon was Short
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There is a common myth about Napoleon. A short and vain man. But what if he wasn't?
Be sure to check out David’s latest book ‘Men on Horseback. The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution’ here: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...
Sources:
That amazing Vox video: • Napoleon's missing han...
www.britannica.com/event/Fren...
nationalpost.com/news/world/g...
www.britannica.com/story/was-...
www.history.com/news/napoleon....
Hi there, my name is Jochem Boodt. I make the show The Present Past, where I show how the present has been influenced by the past. History, but connected to the present and fun!
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Пікірлер: 118
I can't believe the historian passed up the opportunity to say "to continue to belittle him"
Did you know Napoleon had a Slovenian lover called Emilia Cecilia Eva Kraus? He is also fondly remembered in our parts since during Ilyrian provinces we were finally allowed to use Slovenian as the official language :)
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
i did not!
@adnanebelfaquir
Жыл бұрын
Nice never knew that
@HolahkuTaigiTWFormosanDiplomat
8 ай бұрын
:0
Great video! You deserve 10000 times as many subs as you have, amazing editing and storytelling.
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
a 100 million subs? I'll take it thanks!
the Age of Napoleon podcast introduced me to parts of his life that completely flew in the face of whatever ideas I had about him. Apparently he had a huge chip on his shoulder as a child sent to France and was incredibly studious & hardworking. Just learning a bit more about the kind of life he led sheds some light on why he was successful in his military career
@kevinxu3892
Жыл бұрын
It’s a great podcast! If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you listen to the sub story on Haiti and Touissant Louvouture, sheds so much light into a part of history that’s glossed over too much
@polybius3609
Жыл бұрын
@@kevinxu3892 Will definitely make the time to listen to those episodes! ty
@thefreemonk6938
Жыл бұрын
What does it mean to have chip on your shoulder?
@gabbar51ngh
Жыл бұрын
@@thefreemonk6938 disadvantaged in some way.
@DaKilla331
Жыл бұрын
@@gabbar51ngh no it doesn't 😂 google is free
1:30 THAT WINDOW, THAT VIEW. You're living the dream mate!
All great points! So mostly just anti-Napoleonic sentiment from European countries that were conquered (most). I’d be curious to hear how the French remember him.
@brookb5890
Жыл бұрын
Google Napoleon's tomb. I think it's pretty self-explanatory what they think of him.
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
There's actually a big debate around him now. He reinstated slavery in the colonies so some people don't jive with that.
@Zilero
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ Right! Yeah, that’d definitely complicate the whole legacy thing. Great vid as always, Jochem 🥰
@wordytoed9887
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ This is the kind of insights I look for in a history channel. Well-read, you sure sound. That, and you are open to field many questions. Really enjoying your channel, man. Love from the mitten state. God bless
(Before watching the Video)....I thought I had read/heard somewhere that Lord Nelson was actually shorter than Napoleon and it was the English press that satirized Napoleon as a little emperor through their comics that were popular at the time/good for propaganda
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
bullseeye
You deserve way more subs!
Thanks for the infos
If there's only one thing I know about Napoleon its this exact phrase Napoleon blah blah blah "Who was actually average height for his time." I feel like this is a myth that has almost been over corrected to the point that it's not really recognized a myth anymore. I can't remember the last time I heard someone say Napoleon was short. Literally this week (Monday I believe) jeopardy clue was what was Napoleon's nickname followed up by (he was actually average height for his time.)
5ft 6 is quite tall for that era. I am 6ft 2, My dad is 5ft 11 and my grandfather is 5ft8.
6:09 "myth busted" *looks down* 🥶
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
😶
People to this day still disrespecting Napoleon about his height and the research paper done to specifically fat shame him is too far 😭
Great story about the Short King!
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
Bless double Daddy
"We only date emperors over 6 foot!" ~ Europeans
Is there a possibility that Napoleon was short in comparison to male noblemen but not common folk? I’m assuming that at that time the nobility was much better fed and treated, probably being able to reach their potential natural height more often (instead of stalling due to mal nutrition and diseases, specially in childhood)
@wordytoed9887
Жыл бұрын
salient thought for sure. I like how you spelled the word for having been made to feed. Art thou ... Irish? Ich bin Amerikaner. Just curious. Muy bien, adieu!
@miguelmateus5258
Жыл бұрын
@@wordytoed9887 I'm Portuguese. Just an honest mistake. Already corrected it to "fed". Txs
“History is determined by the mfn victor.” -Pvt David Montes 2011
hej I am glad You moved to Gdansk! :) welcome to Poland. (am from Podlaskie) 🎉
The coalition: "Yeah buddy you might have smashed us 5 times, but you short lol"
@teamgamespace5708
Жыл бұрын
😂😂😂
he was just very ambitious, no idea how the rumor of him being small spread
@abadyr_
Жыл бұрын
English propaganda.
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
Now you now!
@PizzaPartify
Жыл бұрын
Why don’t you watch the video before commenting
@LibertarianLeninistRants
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ Now I know, thanks to you!
@myamdane6895
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ Now I now! Thanks
1:17 You're the short one in the group 💀😆
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
lol
He's average height at the time.
@Noctem_pasa
Жыл бұрын
I see you
Do you not post to Nebula anymore? This isn’t on it?
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
It is, if I'm trying different thumbs and titles I don't immediately switch it on Nebula
@Jo_876
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ ohhh my bad it’s just a different title from last month. Gotcha.
well i would assume that the reason that people were shorter then is because of insufficient nutrition but Napoleon likely ate pretty well.
such good content that i gladly suffer through the dutch accent.
5.6 is short
verhuizen naar gdansk is crazy
Whilst he may have been of average height for the era he was not average height for his peers. He was not a poor urban worker with poor nutrition, he was an aristocrat and most of the people in control of Europe whom would have been his peers were also aristocrats or other well off people that were better fed and so had a taller average height. So while technically he was not short, he kind of was at the same time and it's easy to see why he would be seen as that way, because whenever a foreign diplomat or general met him they would see him as sort.
Is that a spliff tucked up in your ear? I didn't think it was possible to love you any more...
2:20 Gives Putin vibes
I'm surprised that out of all places you moved to Poland
Why did you move to Poland? 😲
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
The girlfriend is studying here
im not getting notifications for ur videos wtf
Everyone was smaller back than look at there armor
Maby his soldiers did not talk about the size of his whole body…. Maby it was another “thing” that was small..
May I ask why Poland? How come?
What are you doing in Poland?
I'm 6"1'.
Interesting
Great story, I really enjoyed it! But why do you pronounce "math" like it is "mUth"? 🙂
To me Napoleon looks like Phil Collins at the height of his fame
He was average height for the time!
5:30 ok so he was basically bullied by reddit lol 😂
That sounds like what the ghost of napoleon would say >:/
Will we remember Putin is a shorty or a giant?
I have heard this myth debunked before. However, it does leave me with some questions. So he was average for his time. But it is also not really fair to compare him to the average Frenchman. Weren't most of the Frenchmen at the time malnourished peasants. Wouldn't a better comparison be to compare his height with that of the french elite of his time?
by modern women's standards, anything under 6'0 is short anyway
Did I miss the part about how y'all he really was?
HE WAS AVERAGE FOR THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@saggitt
Жыл бұрын
Exactly
Literally don't know a thing about Napoleon
@AmeenRidwan
Жыл бұрын
Well now I do now lol
He was measured at death on a british island with british measurements to be 5 ft 2. Deal with it.
5’6” is short regardless…
@bigtex4864
Жыл бұрын
Keep in mind, average men were shorter during 1800's. About 5' 4 during 1810's apparently.
Are you wearing a Pearl necklace for a KZread video?!
It's useless to call him "short in modern" standards - it varies on where you're from and the nature/nurture story. Height fluctuated during the centuries. He (Napoleon) was around 1,686 Metres tall. He was born (a bit) before the 1800's. the avg height of: United Kingdom 1760 - 1800 is 168.2 United Kingdom 1800 - 1830 is 170.7 France 1800 - 1820 is 164.1 United States 1800 - 1820 is 173 It'll make him above avg for france, but def taller than your southern frenchie where he's from at the time, yet slightly less in height to some other global powers on avg. He looked "short" in his time because of his honour guard/bodyguard, men selected above 187cm, in addition with the tall hats they wore made them seem like giants, the English took this concept over after the defeat, now can be seen at Buckingham Palace. I don't know if it's true but some claim they claimed those bodyguards as war trophies and imported them back to England. But those decked out blokes would almost anyone made small. I'm Dutch, we were once the smallest in Europe, believe it or not, however in the last centuries we caught up and most have great genetic potential to allow them to get tall, however many friends of mine suffer from problems at old age or even in their youth, take care of it regardless of height. Peace guys. Also height besides food, has also a lot to do with jodium and other minerals for your glands, the Netherlands is a river delta so we get a lot of goodies so to speak, this in turn gets in our food and makes it "better" than you were to cultivate it in an arid environment. A lot of third would countries had smaller citizens but they just added a bunch of jodium and other shit to it to make them gain height during the decades, it's still being done here and there, but height isn't the only or primary reason though
The big problem I have with this new take on Napoleon's size is that if he was perfectly average for his time, why did his contemporaries describe him as "Small" ( Humbolt ) "The little Bastard" ( French General ) "short" (Hyde de Neuville) "Below middle size" (Joseph Farington) "Of short stature" (Dennis Davidov), etc.
@kwameankomah6366
6 ай бұрын
Napoleon was an Italian so his shortness makes perfect sense. People want to change his height because they think short people cannot achieve greatness or be a great warrior for some reason.
Ok guys... for a guy that "isnt that short" there are way to many videos claiming that hes not. Sounds to me like someone is pretty insecure about his height. Im just saying: a big guy wouldnt need a 1000 Videos saying hes not small.
@abadyr_
Жыл бұрын
Was he the one who made them?
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
I completely disregard any rumours of being sponsored by the Napoleon Foundation
@DasPetermann
Жыл бұрын
@@ThePresentPast_ I always knew that the French control the media...
Putin will be remembered in the same way ;)
@thomashaeyen6942
9 ай бұрын
no, he'll be remembered as W I D E
this guy sounds so silly
@asdf-mg7tu
4 ай бұрын
your comment is silly
I don't know about you, but I've learned this "average for the time" thing recently from OverSimplified, together with other 38 million viewers of his Napoleon video.
Compared to modern standards, he's short.
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
yep
i dislike you pearls, not manly
@danidejaneiro8378
Жыл бұрын
Gatekeeping masculinity is the pastime of closeted queers,
He was French That's his problem
Napoleon is France's greatest hero; an icon that represents French military prowess in its most virile and triumphant form. The fact that France's most successful leader and icon was beaten (largely) by the British, surrendered (mostly) to the British, was imprisoned on British territory by British jailers, whom made him deficate into a (presumably British) wooden bucket, isn't so much British propaganda, but rather eternal proof that of the two greatest military rivals in history, there was one clear winner. And it wasn't France or Napoleon. It was us, the Island Monkeys, the Roast Beefs. I mean, at Talavera (its hallowed name etched on the Arc of Triumph in Paris no less) the British were left in possession of the battlefield and captured two French Imperial Eagles - touched by the hand of Bonaparte himself (the same small hand he touched his tiny little balls with?) For the French, with those kind of "triumphs," who needs losses? British fact-checking serves an important function Of diluting our French cousins hubris and papist infused dogma. Also, did anyone ever tell you about the time that the English-speaking people liberated the Netherlands and the rest of Europe from fascism? Quite often our great British services come for close to free. You're welcome, by the way. Having knocked off two fascist dictators in Napoleon and Hitler, Europe still has one 'Get our of Fascist Hell for Free' card to play. Britain will liberate Europe just one more time. From whom remains unclear but instincts say potentially Putin. Or maybe someone closer to our island home. What's the deal with Orban? Is he going full fascist just yet?
@Kushagra.j
Жыл бұрын
Your country is going down the gutter and you're talking of liberating a vast continent. Typical British delusion and grandiosity with their unmatched narcissism and idiocy
@teamgamespace5708
Жыл бұрын
Oui
Don't care if he was short or not, all I know is that him being a Fr*nchman automatically makes him short.
@brad5426
Жыл бұрын
Wow dude that comment was funny
Great video! You deserve ten times as many subs as you have, amazing editing and storytelling.
@ThePresentPast_
Жыл бұрын
Thanks Yappit!
@refugetube4800
Жыл бұрын
True it's sad people only watch "beef videos" (johnny haris video ) they go right past the educational material :/