Armies have always sought to bring the biggest and strongest soldiers into their ranks, but King Frederick William I of Prussia turned it into an obsession. In the early 18th century, the military-loving monarch tried to assemble the tallest troops in Europe into an elite regiment nicknamed the “Potsdam Giants.” Though they never saw combat, these enormous grenadiers grew to become the most impressive collection of big men this side of a pro basketball team. Several members were seven-footers, and one Swedish recruit was said to stand eight and a half feet tall.
King Frederick was constantly on the lookout for potential Potsdam Giants, and he was willing to beg, borrow and steal to get them. He spent a fortune hiring outsized mercenaries and buying tall soldiers off other militaries, and instructed his agents to shanghai exceptionally tall civilians and conscript them into the unit. In a bizarre attempt to breed future recruits, he even compelled his largest troops to marry and have children with tall women. King Frederick derived great joy from the giants—he was known to have them march through his bedroom to cheer him up when he was ill—but they were also a significant drain on royal coffers. After he died in 1740, his son disbanded the unit and used the savings to fund four additional regiments of normal-sized soldiers.
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