Potsdam Giants

After Frederick William I ascended to the throne in 1713, he proceeded to strengthen his military, including hiring 40,000 mercenaries.

The Emperor of Austria, Russian Tsar Peter the Great and even the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire sent him tall soldiers in order to encourage friendly relations.

In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin mentions this attempt as the only case of intentional selective breeding in humans: "Nor have certain male and female individuals been intentionally picked out and matched, except in the well-known case of the Prussian grenadiers; and in this case man obeyed, as might have been expected, the law of methodical selection; for it is asserted that many tall men were reared in the villages inhabited by the grenadiers with their tall wives.

"[4] Although Prussia briefly intervened in the Great Northern War, the Potsdam Giants never saw battle.

[5] Some sources state that there was a military reason to create a regiment of "long fellows" because loading a muzzleloader is easier to handle for a taller soldier.

Their uniform was not in any way unique for the time, consisting of a red mitre, a Prussian blue jacket with gold lacing, scarlet breeches and white gaiters.

The battalion surrendered near Erfurt and Prenzlau after the Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 and was disbanded and absorbed into the 1st Guard Regiment on foot.