Bart Dale

Also Napoleon's height of 5' 6" may have been average for the common man, that was relatively short of the leader's of countries. George Washington, the first US president (under the Constitution) was 6' 2". Jefferson the 3rd US president was 6'2", James Monroe the 5th US President was 6', Andrew Jackson the 7th US President was 6' 1". and even John Adam, the 2nd US President was 5' 7".

Of the first 10 US Presidents, Napoleon was shorter than 8 of them, and only taller than 1. Compared them, he was short. George III was also called "tall". Henry VIII was 6' 2". For a ruler, Napoleon was short.
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_presidents_and_presidential_candidates_ of_the_United_States]Heights of presidents and presidential candidates of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


Nobility that ruled countries back then tended to be taller than the average person. For example, analysis of the height of the prestigious military academy of Sandhurst in the 19th century in indicated an average height of 5' 8". This height would have reflected the heights of the elites that ruled England.

By comparison with his fellow European rulers, Napoleon may well be regarded as short. Certainly he was much shorter than the US Presidents of the time.

Bart Dale

Another misconception that I find amazing that people still quote is that the Medieval Europeans thought the world was flat, and that Columbus proved it was round.

Son of Athena

Add to the list: medieval knights in plate armor needed cranes to be set upon their horse.

Bart Dale

In the Renaissance, some very heavy forms of armor were developed for the sport of jousting that might have given rise to the idea of crane. However, this armor was really not part of the middle ages, being a Renaissance thing, and in any case wasn't representative of the armor that medieval knights normally wore.

However, it is easy to see how misconception arose - this Stechzeug armor would have been among the new armor used by knights, and being used for only for specialized sporting events, contributing to it being more likely to be preserved than normal armor, thus giving a false impression of the type of armor knights normally wore.

Ashiusx

The idea that Americans and the South Vietnamese agreed then cancelled elections that were supposed to be held because of the agreements of Geneva Accords of 1954. Actually there no agreement, neither side signed anything. Many observers agreed free elections were not possible. And Americans made a counter proposal to the Communists for elections to be held but supervised by the UN. But the Communists rejected this proposal.

The French accepted the proposal of [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Minh"]Viet Minh[/ame] delegate [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pham_Van_Dong"]Pham Van Dong[/ame],[3] who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions".[4] The United States countered with what became known as the "American Plan," with the support of the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Vietnam"]State of Vietnam[/ame] (which later became [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Vietnam"]South Vietnam[/ame]) and the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom"]United Kingdom[/ame].[5] It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations"]United Nations[/ame], but was rejected by the Soviet delegation.[5]

As Saigon's delegation did not sign the Geneva accords, it was not bound by it.[5] He also said the communist government in the North created conditions that made a fair election impossible in that region. This view was confirmed by independent observers from Canada, India, and Poland,[6] in the circumstances prevailing in 1955 and 1956 - anarchy of the Sects and of the retiring Viet Minh in the South, the 1956 campaign of terror from Hanoi's land reform and resultant peasant uprising around [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinh"]Vinh[/ame] in the North.[7]

Lm1985

Some misconceptions that I often hear:
- The American Founding fathers were nothing but a bunch of rich slaveowners who preached revolutionary ideals but acted only in materialistic terms
- The Reform was centered on freedom and "democratic" modern values, in opposition to Catholic backward culture, and medieval dark age
and ignorance…
- Democracy and freedom have been created by Anglo-Saxon civilization
- Germans naturally tend to a barbaric attitude, authoritarianism and a national-socialistic mentality
- Machiavelli was an evil psychopath
- In the end, considering the "good nature" of Italians ("brava gente"), Fascism was a soft dictatorship if compared with the ruthless and barbaric nature of German national-socialism

EnglishHistoryFreak

Hitler miraculously GOT ALL THE WAY THROUGH right to Argentina and no one recognized him and he lived until he was 70 years of age. Just STFU.

MarshallBudyonny

I fail to see the problem.

Salah

You have my sympathy.

gladiatrice

People actually believe the Anglo-Saxons invented democracy? Okay then... And thank you for agreeing with me on the matter of Machiavelli -- no one else seems to.