WI: Napoleon actually did have Dwarfism

[Super_Cool2]

In OTL, Napoleon was was called short in British propaganda to undermine the leader of their enemy in Europe. Even though Napoleon was average height for the time, the propaganda stuck, with many people to this day thinking Napoleon was a short man. We even have the term "Napoleonic complex" based on tis fake propaganda

I'm curious though. If a figure like Napoleon did exist with this same brain, personality, and parentage but he did have dwarfism, would he have been able to rise through the ranks of the French army and become emperor? Or would the condition have prevented his rise?

 

[RedSword12]

He would never have been given a military education.

 

[Kellan Sullivan]

He would never have been given a military education.

Were height requirements a thing back then tho?

 

[Philip]

Are we talking about ahondroplasia? Height won't be the only issue. He'll have difficulty with the basics of military life.

 

[Aghasverov]

For some reason, I'm thinking of Nap evolving into a sort of Dr. Miguelito Loveless - type archvillain

He was around average height, for the average Frenchman... err... Corsican at the time... but a bit shorter than the average Duc, Comte, or other person of noble birth at the time.

 

[Mitchell Hundred]

Would have made the short lived Bruce Campbell series Jack of All Trades more historically accurate

 

[Plateosaurus]

I imagine tw things:

1. Little people would be a bit more respected in greater society, if not a good candidate for a mascot for their rights movements.
2. Something something comparsions to Benito Juárez.

 

[CHKeeley]

Were height requirements a thing back then tho?

I think it’s less that there was any rule on the books specifying height, and more to do with the fact that people with this condition were usually treated pretty terrible in this period of time in European societies. Napoleon already got plenty of shit for being Corsican, but dwarfism would almost certainly bar him from many paths in life. From what I can see online from a quick search, it seems we don’t actually know a lot about the lives of people with dwarfism before the modern period, but most results I’m seeing involve functions as court jesters (court dwarves, they’re called) or a role in a traveling circus or side show. That’s excepting a man named Richebourg, who was put to use as a spy disguised as an infant during the French Revolution. But most options in life if they lived to adulthood seem to be entirely based around their handicap. I think we can probably rule out a martial career from young Nappy here.

 

[Silver01]

depends what you mean by dwarfism meaning he is just 147 cm well he would be one but another thing completely is ahondroplasia

 

[athgtq16129]

Even though Napoleon was average height for the time

I recall that since Napoleon was 167-169 cm / 5'6", then he was actually taller than the average Frenchman at the time!

Something something comparsions to Benito Juárez.

Years ago I constantly saw people on the internet saying that Benito Juárez was only 137 cm / 4'6", but I could never find sources for this, the "source" that Wikipedia cites for his height is a tabloid trash top 10 ranking clickbait site, and not only that, the page on that clickbait site that allegedly says that BJ was that short is no longer up on the site, and there are no archives for it!

Additionally, Benito Juárez was a full-blooded ethnic Zapotec, indigenous peoples of the Americas are very short in general, so that does not means that Juárez had dwarfism, I also stumbled upon a comment on another site from someone who is also skeptical of the claim that he was that short, that user said that "other sources" he read stated that Juárez was in reality around 150 cm / 4'9" to 155 cm / 5'0", which is for sure short but not that short, but then again, that user conveniently did not cited which sources these are.

 

[Fabius Maximus]

Were height requirements a thing back then tho?

Even if there weren't official height requirements, having dwarfism would still cause practical difficulties in battle/military life in general (to take one example, it'd be harder to keep up with your comrades on the march, and since armies of the period spent most of their time marching around, this could prove quite an impediment).

He was around average height, for the average Frenchman... err... Corsican at the time... but a bit shorter than the average Duc, Comte, or other person of noble birth at the time.

Probably a bit shorter than the average Englishman, too, since the average Englishman of the period was richer and better-fed than the average Frenchman.

Additionally, Benito Juárez was a full-blooded ethnic Zapotec, indigenous peoples of the Americas are very short in general, so that does not means that Juárez had dwarfism, I also stumbled upon a comment on another site from someone who is also skeptical of the claim that he was that short, that user said that "other sources" he read stated that Juárez was in reality around 150 cm / 4'9" to 155 cm / 5'0", which is for sure short but not that short, but then again, that user conveniently did not cited which sources these are.

I think that's pretty much how Napoleon was portrayed in propaganda as well -- he was supposed to be short, but I don't recall any suggestion that he actually had dwarfism.

 

[RedSword12]

Were height requirements a thing back then tho?

The informal barriers to dwarves entering military careers are almost insurmountable. He'd have trouble mounting and riding a horse, he'd have trouble marching, he'd be subject to ridicule; I don't think his father would even consider sending him to get a military education. There's a nonzero chance he manages to get a military education and eventually a command, but the odds are not good.

 

[Aluma]

Okay how about this

Dwarf Napoleon, but like there's two of them

And they mount each other, with a overcoat

 

[Fabius Maximus]

The informal barriers to dwarves entering military careers are almost insurmountable. He'd have trouble mounting and riding a horse, he'd have trouble marching, he'd be subject to ridicule; I don't think his father would even consider sending him to get a military education. There's a nonzero chance he manages to get a military education and eventually a command, but the odds are not good.

About the only way I could imagine someone with dwarfism having a successful military career in this period would be if he were a high-class nobleman who could use his connections to get parachuted into a command position where he spent all his time directing others rather than fighting himself. In that case, his height would still be an issue (when riding horses, for example), but one potentially outweighed by being a military genius.

 

[Bored Young Man]

I think that's pretty much how Napoleon was portrayed in propaganda as well -- he was supposed to be short, but I don't recall any suggestion that he actually had dwarfism.

The famous picture of his had him beside a Guards unit, all of whom were chosen for their height.

So I think its only fair to ask, how would the French military look like if all French people were dwarfs?

 

[RedSword12]

So I think its only fair to ask, how would the French military look like if all French people were dwarfs?

Rifles. Lots and lots of carbines and rifles. Perhaps France would become the first to develop semi-automatic weapons in this timeline, cause of all the countries they'll need them the most. But in all seriousness, how can you guarantee the formation of France with such a POD? This discussion would belong in ASB.

 

[Bored Young Man]

Rifles. Lots and lots of carbines and rifles. Perhaps France would become the first to develop semi-automatic weapons in this timeline, cause of all the countries they'll need them the most. But in all seriousness, how can you guarantee the formation of France with such a POD? This discussion would belong in ASB.

It sounded fun, like an generation of famine with liberal development changing chemicals.

 

[Intosh]

According to a book about Napoleon's army, "l'Armée de Napoléon" d'Alain Pigeard, 2002

Minimum height to join the army was 1.598 m until l'An XI (1802), was reduced to 1.544 m until l' An XIII (1804), and reduced to 1.488 m in 1811.

But one problem, dwarfism will be detected in Napoleon as child so the Bonaparte family will not send him to the Military School of Brienne. So he will just stay in Ajaccio until his family is expelled from the city by the Paolists in 1793. But his event can be butterfly by the lack of the rivality between Napoleon and Paoli.

I saw for Dwarf Napoleon as career in service of his uncle Joseph Fesch, who will probably stay a priest.

 

[Aluma]

I saw for Dwarf Napoleon as career in service of his uncle Joseph Fesch, who will probably stay a priest.

Now Im imagining him applying his OTL genius to political plotting instead of military battles and becoming some kind of Pope Augustus Caesar

 

[Intosh]

Now Im imagining him applying his OTL genius to political plotting instead of military battles and becoming some kind of Pope Augustus Caesar

Uncle Fesch career in the French clergy was only possible because his nephew was General and later Emperor of the French.

Dwarf Napoleon life will be very different from OTL Napoleon, it is the eternal debate between nature vs nurture.

Napoleon was born a "great man" or he became a "great man" thanks to his parents, family, education, opportunies.

Dwarf Napoleon can became a great actor, a showman of European reputation because people of his condition find employment in circus and spectacles at this time. He can also became just an farmer bringing small wealth to his family and paying the dowries of his sister.