Dec 12, 2010, 7:43 pm
I recently got into reading up into history etc... this is an interesting fact I found out
The Potsdam Giants
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The Potsdam Giants
Quote:The Potsdam Giants was the Prussian infantry regiment No 6, composed of taller-than-average soldiers. The regiment was founded in 1675 and dissolved in 1806 after the Prussian defeat against Napoleon. Throughout the reign of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (1688-1740) the unit was known as the "Potsdamer Riesengarde" ("giant guard of Potsdam") in German, but the Prussian population quickly nicknamed them the "Lange Kerls" ("Long guys").
The Regiment was founded with a strength of two battalions in 1675 as âRegiment Kurprinzâ under the command of Prince Frederick of Brandenburg, the later King Frederick I of Prussia. In 1688 the later King Frederick William I of Prussia became the nominally Commander of the Regiment by his birth as his father expected him to play with his own Regiment and receive some military training. After Fredrick William I ascended to the throne in 1713 he proceeded to decrease expenses of the court and strengthen his military. He let Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau improve the drill and weapons of his army and hired 40,000 foreign mercenaries. He believed in harsh discipline.
He had already begun to recruit taller soldiers for it. The official name of the regiment was the 'Grand Grenadiers of Potsdam' or 'Potsdam Grenadiers' for short. However, when the number of tall soldiers increased, the regiment earned its nickname 'Potsdam Giants'. Their uniform was a red hat, blue jacket with gold trim, scarlet trousers, white stockings, and black shoes. Their weapons included muskets, white bandoleers, and daggers. The soldiers wore a hat without a brim in order to be able to throw their heavy grenades with ease.
The original required height was 6 Prussian Foot (about 1.88 meters), well above average then and now. One of the tallest soldiers, the Irish James Kirkland, was reportedly 2.17 meters in height. Another member of the regiment was Daniel Cajanus. The king â who was about 1.6 meters himself â needed several hundred more recruits each year.
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