Napoleonic battle of Reims

#3 reminds me of Mainwaring out of Dads Army; who chooses the three that can be Napoleon?

three other reenactors
# 12

http://i65.tinypic.com/x4j0js.jpg

# 13

http://i67.tinypic.com/vzuflv.jpg

# 14

http://i67.tinypic.com/1zqscpv.jpg

What a great place to shoot pictures (guns and cannons, too!). Very good takes and quality. Enjoyed it! Merci beaucoup!

Thank you Roger

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bnnrcn

In the last one his fur cap is twice as big as his head ,not very ergonomical,it must have been difficult to fight with it:D

---

The very large hats and/or helmets were styled to make the soldiers look taller; perhaps to instill fear during a bayonet charge... Folks of that era, perhaps due to insufficient nutrition, were rather short.

The common British male citizen, of the Napoleonic Time, seemed to average about five and a half feet tall. More affluent British males were about three inches taller and the very rich were about three inches taller than that.

I would guess that it was nutrition. Wikipedia states that the average American fighting in the American Revolution was about three inches taller than his British rival.

Another vote for nutrition comes from a newspaper article that described the contingent of Australian soldiers marching in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897 or about 80+ or so years after Waterloo) as "Giants who averaged five feet eleven inches tall:eek:" (my funny face)...

The French could not have been much taller... Napoleon's Guard Regiments required a height of at least 5 feet 3 inches for officers and 5 feet six inches for enlisted men...

No wonder they were decked out in those outlandishly tall hats...

Thank you Richard for the clarification.

# 15

http://i68.tinypic.com/2r3f4o4.jpg


# 16
their soles were made of straw

http://i63.tinypic.com/15qyn8x.jpg


# 17

http://i66.tinypic.com/345g8d5.jpg