10 Napoleon Bonaparte Myths You Shouldn't Believe

1. Napoleon was short

This is the most common myth about the French emperor. Allegedly, Bonaparte set out to conquer Europe, because he was trying in this way to compensate for his small stature - most often on the Internet, the latter is estimated at 1.57 meters.

In honor of Napoleon, they even named a complex, because of which short people strive to achieve greater success in their careers or other areas of life than their tall comrades.

The Emperor was indeed depicted as short in British caricatures. And the myth that Bonaparte is an evil hysterical dwarf, most likely, appeared thanks to the English artist James Gillray, who drew enemy of England in this unpleasant image. However, he did not spare his own king George III.

And growth Napoleon estimated at 1.57 meters because the translators are wrong

compared English and French feet - the commander was measured in the latter. And in fact growth was equal to 170 centimeters, which was the average for men of that era.

Napoleon received his nickname "little corporal" from the soldiers of his personal guard, where only healthy men were recruited. Against their background, he really seemed low.

So the complex was named in honor of Napoleon in vain. The same Pushkin, Churchill And Stalin were 2-3 centimeters shorter than him, but no one considered them dwarfs.

2. Napoleon was a brunette with an aquiline nose

Another stereotype about the appearance of Bonaparte. He is usually depicted as a swarthy brunette with slightly curly hair and a strongly aquiline nose.

This image arose due to the fact that Napoleon was painted by people who had never seen him and judged his appearance by origin.

Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica and spoke with an Italian accent, and therefore, in paintings and caricatures, he was given the appearance of a southerner. In reality, Bonaparte were dark blond hair, blue eyes, straight nose and pale skin. In Corsica, despite the stereotypes, there are also enough brown-haired and blonde people.

About the real features of the appearance of the French emperor, they wrote in memories marshal Junot's wife duchess d'Abrantes and Lieutenant General Denis Davydov - that saw Napoleon in the face during negotiations with Alexander I in Tilsit.

3. By order of Napoleon, the sphinx was shot off the nose with cannons

A popular legend often told by guides to tourists in Egypt. Allegedly, Napoleon, during the invasion there between 1798 and 1801, decided to test the artillery skills of his soldiers and ordered them to open fire with cannons at the sphinx. They obeyed the order, and as a result, the statue lost its nose.

But this is a myth. In fact, the nose fell off much earlier.

It is impossible to determine exactly when this happened. But the Danish traveler Frederick Louis Norden in 1755 already drew noseless sphinx. Napoleon was born in 1769, so he definitely has nothing to do with it.

Moreover, Bonaparte treated history ancient egypt with extreme interest. He even took with him on a campaign of professors from the French Academy of Sciences, so that they study the artifacts found and take care of the finds. It is unlikely that with such an attitude the commander would give the order to shoot at the sphinx.

By the way, it was on this campaign, during the battle of Imbaba, that Napoleon, legend, ordered his soldiers to protect the academicians and the convoy with the following words: "The army is in a square, donkeys and scientists are in the middle!"

4. Napoleon asked his wife Josephine not to bathe

A letter allegedly sent by Napoleon from the campaign to his wife Josephine Beauharnais became widely known: “I am in a hurry with all my might. I'll be home in three days. Don't wash." Perhaps the emperor preferred natural fragrances to the smell of French soap?

Bonaparte really sent his wife a lot of love letters. messages. But this particular quote is apocryphal: there is no evidence that Napoleon ever asked for a wife refrain from bathing. He himself, by memories his valets, loved cleanliness, carried a camp bath with him, and was obsessed with expensive colognes.

By the way, another famous phrase “Not today, Josephine,” which Napoleon allegedly said, refusing to fulfill his marital duty, also, apparently, was to him attributed in vain.

5. Napoleon wrote a love story

Quite often, Napoleon is credited with the authorship of the "love novel". But this is an exaggeration. The emperor in his youth really dabbled in literature, but nothing serious came out of his pen.

The work in question is called Clisson and Eugenia. And actually it's short story - in the original, he borrowed nine pages from Napoleon. Work in part autobiographical, as it reflects Bonaparte's relationship with Eugenie Desiree Clary, his first bride. But she does not pull on a novel.

Napoleon himself, by the way, had no particular illusions about his literary abilities.

Once, the employees of the Lyon Academy, wishing to make a pleasant impression on the emperor, gave him an archival copy of his own essay, which he wrote at 17 for a competition. Bonaparte read a couple of pages and then silently threw the work into the fire.

6. Napoleon became a Muslim

The adoption of Islam is often attributed to a variety of historical figures, and Napoleon was no exception. There is a theory on the Web that during a visit to Egypt, he was so imbued with Mohammedanism that he became a Muslim and took the name Ali Bonaparte.

In general, Napoleon really considered the possibility of demonstratively converting to Islam during a campaign in this country. But not out of sincere faith, but to make local residents more loyal and obedient. However, knowing what is required for this, doubted.

Napoleon was not a believer at all and considered religion only as a tool that can help control nations. So the story that he converted to Mohammedanism is a fiction.

7. Napoleon's army was destroyed by the Russian winter

One of the most common myths about Napoleon says that the reason for the defeat of his army during the Patriotic War of 1812 was the harsh Russian winter. Unprepared for the cold weather, the French froze, and the Russians, accustomed to snow, went on the counterattack and drove them from their land.

Therefore, an ironic proverb circulates on the Internet that the main victories in the history of Russia were won by General Moroz.

In fact, the failure of Napoleon's campaign was evident long before winter. the highest losses the French army were in summer and autumn, and the reason for them was not the cold, but problems with logistics and lack of supplies. Also, a significant part of the troops died from diseases, in particular from typhus. And the Russian winter was not the decisive factor here.

8. At the bottom of Lake Semlevsky lies Napoleon's golden convoy

There is a legend that when escaping from Russia, Napoleon in a hurry took with him a huge amount of gold, silver and relics. The wagon train was so large that it allegedly had to be pulled by seven hundred horses. But when Bonaparte realized that his wealth was slowing him down, he ordered the cargo to be thrown into Semlevskoye Lake.

But the existence of the "Napoleonic Treasure" is doubtful. The only source of information about him is the memoirs of Philippe de Segur. history repeated in his biography of Bonaparte, Walter Scott, and it was replicated. The legend is well-known, but only scientists with divers who explored the lake in 1960 and 1979 have nothing there not found.

9. Instead of Napoleon in exile, a double languished on the island of St. Helena

The myth that Napoleon was replaced by a double named François-Eugène Robeau, for the first time appeared in print in 1911. It was most likely based on the memoirs of a police agent named Ledru published in 1840.

That arguedthat a resident of the French village of Balicour, François-Eugène Robo, was visited by General Gaspard Gourgaud, one of Napoleon's former comrades. And recruited him into doubles emperor, after which the man from the village disappeared.

Sounds intriguing, but it's also fiction. There are none at all evidencethat said Robo existed. Just as there is no evidence that Napoleon ever left Saint Helena - it was too well guarded.

10. Napoleon was poisoned by the British

In 2008, scientists analyzed preserved samples of Bonaparte's hair and found they simply unimaginable residual doses of arsenic, 100 times higher than normal. The study gave rise to the theory that Napoleon did not die himself - he was supposedly “helped” by the British who captured him during his exile to St. Helena.

But subsequent studies disproved the theory: even Napoleon's childhood hair samples, as well as samples of his family members and contemporaries, were also heavily contaminated with arsenic.

In Bonaparte's time people didn't guess about the toxicity of this substance, and therefore they added it to whatever they got into - glue, dyes and even dishes. Arsenic has also been used as medicines from many diseases.

The substance naturally accumulated in Napoleon's body throughout his life. And so now historians refute poisoning hypothesis. Bonaparte's real cause of death was peptic ulcer and stomach cancer.