Was Napoleon even short? Inside the history of discrimination against short men

[Low End Derrick]

How much do you make? How desirable is your spouse? How are you perceived? Your height could play a role in all these questions and more. Modern civilization is notoriously biased about height, heaping praise and privilege on the tall while minimizing and mocking society’s short kings.

Shorter men have it especially rough. Not only do they face those same biases but they’re also up against a unique stigma: the Napoleon complex.

Named for the tyrannical and aggressive dictator with ambitions far larger than his physical frame, pop psychologists began using this term in the early 20th century to describe short men with domineering personalities. Here’s how the so-called “Napoleon complex” came to be—and why historians still disagree about whether its namesake Napoleon Bonaparte was really all that short.

The Duke of Wellington tosses a diminutive Napoleon in the air in this political cartoon depicting a popular game at the time. Wellington is best known for leading British forces to victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815

Napoleon's attempts to conquer Europe had earned him many enemies—and satirists delighted in depicting his downfall in political cartoons.

Just how short was Napoleon? Historians disagree on the answer. During his life, Napoleon was described as both slight and impressive, short and average.

Part of the ongoing confusion seems to stem from the difference in the French and English measuring systems. More than one Napoleon observer said he was about five foot six inches tall, and this was confirmed at his autopsy. But that was often expressed in France’s pre-Revolutionary measurement system. The French “pouce,” or “inch,” equaled 1.06 English inches, which meant that in France at the time, Napoleon was said to be five feet two inches tall.

Historians also point out that Napoleon was often seen in public in the presence of Old Guard grenadiers, who were required to be physically large and who wore uniforms that may have made the emperor look slight in comparison.

Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on horseback in the occupied city of Nice.

Then there’s the deception of appearances. One contemporary, nobleman and ambassador Hyde de Neuville, recalled thinking the man was short. But after Napoleon looked him in the eye during a 1799 meeting, he wrote in his memoirs, “I lost all my assurance under the fire of that questioning eye. To me he had suddenly grown taller by a hundred cubits.”

(Was Napoleon Bonaparte an enlightened leader or a tyrant?)

So why was Napoleon so relentlessly mocked? That might have come down to anxieties about his outsized ambitions, which prompted his enemies to try to cut him down to size. As art historian Constance McPhee writes, British cartoonists like Gillray “manipulated size and dress to symbolically deflate a threatening military opponent, and produced an image that communicates so effortlessly, we often forget it was invented.”

This 1803 political satire shows a tiny Napoleon trapped in a cage and put on display by a sailor—surrounded by people remarking on how small and weak he is.

Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (left) and Britain's Duke of Wellington (right) hold the ends of a jump rope as they make a childlike Napoleon skip over it. This cartoon was published in August 1815, just months after the two men defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

Regardless of his actual height, Napoleon inspired the theory that short men attempt to make up for their height with daring deeds. The term “Napoleon complex” was initially used to describe ambitious men in general, as in a 1928 article that complained about “the Napoleon complex in countless businessmen” determined to convince others they are something they are not.

Eventually, though, the idea of Napoleon got wrapped up in ideas of popular psychology, nudged along by one of the most famous psychological concepts of all time: the “inferiority complex.” Coined by legendary psychoanalyst Alfred Adler in the 1920s, the term initially described children driven by their small size and social insignificance to strive for power over their environment.

The public extended the idea of an inferiority complex to adults, too, and connected it with Napoleon’s historically contested stature. Eventually, people began to use the phrase “Napoleon complex” when they referred to domineering, and short, adults.

But modern critics see the idea of a Napoleon complex as evidence of an ongoing pattern of height discrimination, or “heightism,” a term coined by sociologists in the 1970s.

Studies have shown that short stature is associated with impaired quality of life in some men; in a 2017 study, for example, researchers found that men who experienced discrimination because of their height—or who simply wanted to be taller—were less satisfied with their lives than their counterparts. A 2014 analysis found that men’s height influences society’s perceptions of their mates, their share of household chores and income, and even how old they are when they marry. And taller people consistently get more leadership opportunities and more societal respect.

Is there any evidence that the Napoleon complex is real? Small studies have shown that shorter men may take more obvious risks than taller ones, especially when in the presence of taller men, and keep more resources to themselves when playing a game with a taller male opponent. But it’s unclear if their behavior is due to personal ambition or simply a response to discrimination.

What is clear is that the idea of a Napoleon complex enables people to look down on shorter men. It’s become an “insidious and hurtful stereotype,” writes Tanya Osensky in her book Shortchanged, and is part of a larger strategy of belittling and even publicly humiliating short people.

Such discrimination may be endemic to modern society, but that shouldn’t stop a short king. It certainly didn’t affect Bonaparte. “I am destined to be [my detractors’] prey, but I have no fear of becoming their victim,” he reportedly said shortly before his death in 1821. “The memory I leave behind consists of facts that mere words cannot destroy.”

This portrait depicts Napoleon before the Battle of Waterloo. It's unclear if the French ruler was really so short—but nonetheless his name has become synonymous with a stigma that persists against short men.

Was Napoleon even short? Inside the history of discrimination against short men

He was a French dictator—the original short king. Napoleon's supposedly short stature made him the mockery of Europe and inspired a stigma that persists today.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[Neuromancer]

The Duke of Wellington tosses a diminutive Napoleon in the air in this political cartoon depicting a popular game at the time. Wellington is best known for leading British forces to victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815

Napoleon's attempts to conquer Europe had earned him many enemies—and satirists delighted in depicting his downfall in political cartoons.

Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on horseback in the occupied city of Nice.

This 1803 political satire shows a tiny Napoleon trapped in a cage and put on display by a sailor—surrounded by people remarking on how small and weak he is.

Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (left) and Britain's Duke of Wellington (right) hold the ends of a jump rope as they make a childlike Napoleon skip over it. This cartoon was published in August 1815, just months after the two men defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

This portrait depicts Napoleon before the Battle of Waterloo. It's unclear if the French ruler was really so short—but nonetheless his name has become synonymous with a stigma that persists against short men.

Was Napoleon even short? Inside the history of discrimination against short men

He was a French dictator—the original short king. Napoleon's supposedly short stature made him the mockery of Europe and inspired a stigma that persists today.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Some how how has Europe shook. This thread will be lost in TLR. It requires reading. It involves a challenge to a popularly held view in this sub-forum. Challenging that view will cause some people to lose faith in their own perceived superiority or identity.

 

[Low End Derrick]

Some how how has Europe shook. This thread will be lost in TLR. It requires reading. It involves a challenge to a popularly held view in this sub-forum. Challenging that view will cause some people to lose faith in their own perceived superiority or identity.

nikkas would rather speak about Blueface and Christian Rock for 1000th time than educate themselves.

 

[Luke Cage]

He is short by today's standards, he was actually average height for his time.
i doubt he felt any little man complex when everybody was little back then.

 

[Neuromancer]

nikkas would rather speak about Blueface and Christian Rock for 1000th time than educate themselves.

You are correct. Let that be a lesson that the most active sub on this site is dedicated to nonsense.

 

[invalid]

I heard he was average height at the time and the idea of him being short was English propaganda.

 

[Vandelay]

It's my understanding he was average for the day. But because he was the loser in the conflict, any and all defamation is usually the public ridicule.