while reading eric hobsbawm’s age of revolution, it’s impossible not to be amazed by the physical changes humans have undergone over two centuries. hobsbawm writes:

humanity was smaller in a third aspect compared to today:

europeans were generally noticeably shorter and lighter than they are now.

this observation is supported by a wealth of statistical data, particularly the body measurements of men enlisted in the military. for example, in a canton along the ligurian coast, between 1792 and 1799, seventy-two percent of those drafted were shorter than 1.50 meters. this doesn’t mean that people living at the end of the 18th century were less resilient than we are. the poorly fed, frail, and untrained soldiers of the french revolution demonstrated physical endurance comparable to that of today’s skinny guerrilla fighters roaming the mountains of former colonies. fully equipped, week-long marches covering thirty miles a day were common. however, the fact that people of that time were physically much weaker by our standards remains unchanged, as evidenced by the importance kings and generals placed on “tall men” recruited for elite guards and ceremonial regiments.