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Historical Lies Most People Believe Are True
Not everything we think we know is based in fact
During our lives we collectively learn the important history of our cultures and our pasts that we carry with us as truth. However, not every common tidbit that is accepted as fact is actually true. Consider these three commonly held beliefs that are actually false.
Napoleon Was Short: So famous is the reputation of the former French Emperor’s lack of height that even today those who are smaller in stature and act out aggressively are said to have a “Napoleon Complex.” While he was also known to be outspoken and authoritative, he wasn’t short.
Ruling as the French emperor between 1804–1815, Napoleon Bonaparte developed a reputation for widely expanding his country’s territories through warfare, of which he was a frequent and successful leader. Although history typically remembers him now for his height instead of anything else. Measurements in death put him at 5'2", but that was in French units. Converting that to modern inches actually made him between 5'5" and 5'6.” He may have even been a bit taller than that given how the human body tends to recede in advanced age (He was almost 52 when he died in 1821) and death. Of course, people from the past were smaller on average than they are today, so in his lifetime he was right around the…
