In reading BORODINO by Christopher Duffy, I found the following: ..."Like the grenadiers the guardsmen were chosen above all for their imposing appearance, and at the Tilsit conference of 1807 they (the Russians) made a much better impression than the little men of the French Imperial Guard, who were selected by merit alone and seemed to be crushed by their immense bearskin headgear." FACTS It's quite true that at Tilsit the French Guardsmen looked small next to the Russian Guardsmen. However it's not a reason to call the French small. As a matter of fact contrary to what is said above the Regulations of the French Guard had a minimum size. It was 1.76 meter (5ft. 8in) for the grenadiers and 1.68 meter (5ft. 5in) for the chasseurs. It was much above the average size of the period. ref. L'UNIFORM DES SOLDATS DU PREMIER ENPIRE vol.2 pages 12 and 18 Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 22 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1978 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com