How short was Napoleon Bonaparte? Actually, taller than average.
In 1803, war erupted in Europe once again. Napoleon Bonaparte, first consul of the First Republic of France, had an eye on conquering Great Britain, assembling as many as 200,000 soldiers near Boulogne in a planned crossing of the English Channel.
As the British prepared to repulse an invasion that never occurred, English satirist and caricaturist James Gillray took aim at the future French emperor. In a series of editorial cartoons, he depicted Napoleon as a petulant child who threw tantrums when he didn’t get his way. “Little Boney,” as Gillray called his creation, was markedly smaller than everyone else in the cartoons, which firmly established the myth of Bonaparte as short man with a huge ego.
In reality, Napoleon was not so small. According to historians, he was actually above average height for a Frenchman in that era. But the legend of his diminutive size persists.
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The new movie “Napoleon,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix, puts the focus on the larger-than-life leader who subjugated much of continental Europe in the early part of the 19th century. Michael Broers, an English academic who wrote a massive three-volume biography about the man, hopes the film, released Wednesday, dispels some of the mythology – especially about his height – over this brilliant and enigmatic figure.
“Napoleon was about 5-5 or 5-6, which was slightly taller than average for the times for people generally,” said Broers, who served as a historical consultant on the movie and helped the 5-foot-8 Phoenix comprehend the complex character he was portraying. “But all things are relative. His brothers were all taller than him. A lot of the marshals in his army were taller than him. Even [his wife] Josephine was taller than him.”
The legend about Napoleon’s physical stature — or lack thereof — begins with his recorded height, which his personal physician, Francesco Antommarchi, listed as just over “5 pieds 2 pouces,” or 5 feet 2 inches. However, that was in the old French system, where an inch measured 2.7 centimeters, or 1.063 inches in the contemporary U.S. system.
Based on those calculations, Napoleon was just under 5 feet 6 inches tall. The average for a Frenchman in the early 18th century was slightly over 5 feet 5 inches, according to a working paper published in 2005 by researchers John Komlos and Francesco Cinnirella. (Bonaparte was born in 1769.)
The myth became more muddled in 1793, when Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general at the young age of 24 and began leading French troops to victory. Because of his youth, his soldiers affectionately called him le petit caporal, or the little corporal. But it had nothing to do with his stature.
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“It doesn’t mean that,” said Broers, professor of Western European History at the University of Oxford. “Napoleon was the new boy – similar to D’Artagnan in ‘The Three Musketeers.’ He’s a new lad like him. When he comes up with the army in Italy, most of his soldiers are older than him. They’re veterans; they’ve been around. It was a term of endearment because of his age.”
As Napoleon rose in power and status, his enemies took every opportunity to demean his successes – even resorting to a form of psychological warfare through the media. Newspapers, particularly the English broadsheets, had a field day attacking the French leader, often focusing on his occasional outbursts in front of European statesmen.
Gillray liked to lampoon the French general. At first, the English caricaturist drew Napoleon as normal-sized but with distinctly unpleasant features. However, just before war was declared between the two countries in 1803, English ambassador Lord Whitworth was subjected to vitriolic public harangue by the French leader.
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That’s when Gillray kicked it into high gear. His next editorial cartoon of Napoleon depicted him as an upset child kicking over furniture and throwing papers. The air is filled with angry quotes by Bonaparte about England and its “calumniating newspapers.”
Titled “Maniac ravings-or-Little Boney in a strong fit,” the cartoon set the tone for future Gillray drawings. From then on, the future emperor was referred to only as “Little Boney” and was shown substantially smaller than all other figures, usually with oversized boots and a too-big bicorne hat. The image of Napoleon as short was firmly entrenched at that moment.
“Certainly, in the English-speaking world, Gillray creates the image that runs through to this day,” Broers said. “It’s very common in England today to call someone a ‘Little Napoleon.’ The idea is you have to be little to have such great self-importance – as in a Napoleon complex.”
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Interestingly, Bonaparte was rarely bothered by his size. He was used to looking up to his much-taller siblings and the generals on his staff. The emperor could certainly seem small, especially when standing next to members of his Imperial Guard, who were a minimum of 5-10 and wore tall bearskin hats to appear larger to enemy soldiers.
“I don’t think he had a particular complex about his height, except when it came to Josephine,” Broers said. “She was taller than the average French lady. I’ve heard that she was about 5-9, but I’m not sure. Women didn’t get measured like guys did back then. They didn’t get conscripted into the army, so their height wasn’t as big a deal.”
Still, Napoleon was troubled by how the English press treated him. He often railed against their sharp attacks and the resulting bad publicity. He viewed Gillray in particular as a formidable foe — the equal of any he had faced on the battlefield.
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On his deathbed, Napoleon reportedly said the caricaturist “did more than all the armies of Europe to bring me down.”
Despite the negative imagery, Broers pointed out, Napoleon knew how to make himself look large. His charismatic personality and fiery ambition enabled him to stand tall in the eyes of his soldiers and citizens of France. Plus, he liked to ride small horses.
“Napoleon said the same thing as John Wayne: ‘If you want to make yourself look taller, ride a small horse,’” Broers said. “So that’s what he did.”
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