Height myths
How tall was Napoleon?
167.8 cm5′ 6″
Napoleon was not short. The most famous height in history is wrong by 10.3 cm because a measurement in French royal inches was read as though it were English ones. This is the single best illustration of why we are so careful about what a number actually measures. See what 5'6" looks like →
The numbers
- Recorded
- 5 pieds 2 pouces
- Pre-metric French units
- Correctly converted
- 167.8 cm
- 5′ 6″
- Misread as English
- 157.5 cm
- 5′ 2″
- Error introduced
- 10.3 cm
- 4″
The arithmetic
Napoleon's autopsy, carried out by his physician Francesco Antommarchi in 1821, recorded him at 5 pieds 2 pouces. France had only recently metricated, and the units used were the old ones: the pied du roi and its twelfth, the pouce. Neither matches the English foot and inch.
| Reading | Foot unit | Inch unit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| French royal (correct) | 32.484 cm | 2.707 cm | 167.8 cm |
| English (the mistake) | 30.48 cm | 2.54 cm | 157.5 cm |
A pouce is about 6.6% longer than an English inch. Over five feet and two inches that compounds into 10.3 cm — the entire difference between a man of ordinary height and a notably short one.
Was that short for the time?
No. Estimates of the average French man in the early 1800s run from about 160 cm for the general population to 169 cm for infantry conscripts, who were selected and better fed. At 167.8 cm, Napoleon sat inside that band. Two other things helped the impression along: he was usually surrounded by his Imperial Guard, who had a height requirement, and British caricaturists — James Gillray above all — drew him as a tiny man for years as wartime propaganda.
Historians still differ on the exact figure, and we are not going to pretend otherwise:
- Converted from the autopsy recordFrench royal units, read correctly167.8 cm5′ 6″
- Historian David BellArgues 5′4″–5′5″, slightly below the average of the day163 cm5′ 4″
- Commonly cited range5′6″–5′7″ in most modern accounts168 cm5′ 6″
Questions
How tall was Napoleon?
About 167.8 cm (5′ 6″). His autopsy recorded "5 pieds 2 pouces", which in the French royal units of the day converts to 167.8 cm — not the 5′ 2″ you get by reading those numbers as English feet and inches.
Was Napoleon short?
No. At roughly 167.8 cm he was around or slightly above the average for a French man of the early 1800s, which sources put between 160 and 169 cm depending on whether they sample the general population or army conscripts.
Why does everyone think Napoleon was short?
Two reasons compounding. The autopsy figure was in pieds and pouces — a pouce is 2.707 cm, not 2.54 cm — so reading it as English units subtracts about 10.3 cm. British cartoonists, James Gillray chief among them, then spent years drawing him as a tiny man, and his nickname "le petit caporal" was an affectionate one that travelled badly.
How tall would Napoleon be today?
167.8 cm would place him at about the 16th percentile among American men today, and 10.8 cm below the current French average of 178.6 cm. Unremarkable then; a little short now, because almost everyone got taller.
Put Napoleon next to yourself
The chart opens with the myth, the real figure and a French man of today already lined up. Add your own height and see which side of the argument you fall on.
Autopsy record of Francesco Antommarchi, 1821. Unit values: pied du roi 32.484 cm, pouce 2.707 cm. Modern French average from NCD-RisC. How we source and calculate this →