A supersoldier is a fictional concept combatant genetically modified for superior physical
or behavioural attributes, a concept you'll be familiar with if you've read a single comic
book from the last 30 years.
But did you know this idea was realised with the Potsdam Giants, an 18th century infantry
regiment that was recognised by Charles Darwin as the only case of intentional selective
breeding of humans.
The Potsdam Giants were afforded high salaries and preferential treatment, but despite this,
many lived miserable lives.
In 1713, Frederick William the First became king of Prussia.
A notably frugal person, William did away with many of the luxuries his father had enjoyed
as king, and instead set about expanding the Prussian Army.
During his reign, the Prussian Army went from a force of 38,000 men to 83,000 men.
You may think setting aside one's personal indulgences for the sake of Prussia's interests
was a commendable thing to do, but in truth, the military was William's indulegence, and
nowhere is this more obvious than Prussian infantry regiment No 6.
The regiment, which also came to be known as the Giant Guard of Potsdam, or the "Long
Fellows", was comprised of taller-than-average soldiers.
You had to be at least 6ft 2 to enlist in this regiment, which is fairly tall by today's
standards, but at the time would have been freakishly tall.
The king himself was only about 5ft 3, making him a little manlet in the world of today.
The king was enamored with these big boys, and as they served him directly, the job came
with certain benefits.
Firstly, they were paid handsomely -and the taller you were, the more you were paid.
They were dressed in a fine, regal uniform, with a 45cm Grenadier cap that further pushed
their tall stature.
They were given the best food and accommodation.
They didn't see combat deployment, as the king considered his Potsdam Giants too valuable
to throw away.
They were also paired with tall women, in hopes that they would produce even taller
gaurdsmen for the future.
And yes, this did work.
I imagine this type of eugenics was much more agreeable to the targets than the type practiced
by the Nazis, for example, but despite all this, many of the Potsdam Giants hated their
jobs, to the point some deserted or even committed suicide to escape it.
So why is this?
Well, firstly, many would have suffered from gigantism, a rare disorder resulting in increased
levels of growth hormone.
This is typically caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland, and today is often addressed
by surgery, as growing too large puts great strain on the organs, leading to terrible
pain and discomfort.
This surgery didn't exist back then, so these guys would have just lived in misery.
Now, not all the Potsdam Giants would have had this condition, but they were all subject
to a pretty crappy life.
This is due to King William's unusual obsession with the giants.
He was once quoted as saying "the most beautiful girl or woman in the world would be a matter
of indifference to me, but tall soldiers - they are my weakness", which is a choice of words
I wouldn't use to describe anything, unless I wanted people to think my interest was somehow
perverse.
And some of William's actions indicate that this was the case.
He was very enthusiastic about recruiting more giants.
Part of this was the aforementioned breeding program, but he would also try to recruit
tall soldiers from other armies or countries.
So well known was his interest that foreign monarchs would sometimes supply him with tall
soldiers as a diplomatic gift.
Farmers would sell tall farmhands to him, and the children of tall parents were earmarked
for their potential to be Potsdam Giants.
If these people weren't interested in joining William's regiment, well, tough shit.
The tallest known Potsdam Giant was Irishman James Kirkland, who was recorded as standing
in at 7ft 1.
Kirkland had found employment in London, serving as footman to the Prussian ambassador.
In truth, the ambassador did not need a footman, and Kirkland was forcibly abducted and taken
on board a ship to Prussia.
This is called impressment or press-ganging, where someone is forcibly taken into military
or naval service, and Kirkland was not the only Potsdam Giant to be recruited like this.
While the Potsdam Giants didn't have to fight in battle, they were subject to the whims
and wishes of King William.
If the mood took him, he could command they be paraded out in front of him, accompanied
by the regiment's mascot, a big ol' bear.
Here, William would simply look over them and admire them, as a modern day rich man
might do with a fleet of luxury cars.
He would do this to impress foreign visitors and dignitaries, but also for his own amusement.
If he was sick in bed, William might call for some Potsdam Giants to be brought into
his bedroom to cheer him up.
He enjoyed personally training and drilling them himself, and he even liked painting them.
Really, they were little more than circus freaks or toys for William's vanity.
To directly serve and be admired by the king may have been a source of pride for some,
at least those who had joined voluntarily, but even they would soon see the downside
to being a Potsdam Giant.
King William was so obsessed with his soldiers being tall, that at one point it wasn't good
enough to just find or create tall soldiers, he wanted to make the soldiers he had even
taller.
A special rack was constructed for the Potsdam Giants, where they would be tied up and stretched.
You may be familiar with such a rack, as it's a well known torture device.
William would personally supervise these stretching sessions, although he eventually stopped the
practice after a number of giants died during the supposed enlengthening.
King William was also known for his short temper, which drove him to attack his servants
or even his own children with a cane at the slightest provocation.
It's unknown if the Potsdam Giants were subject to the same abuse, but seeing as he literally
put them on a torture rack, it seems more than likely.
In 1740, Frederick William I died at age 51, and his son, Frederick the Great became king.
Frederick the Great did not share his father's enthusiasm for the Potsdam Giants, and saw
the 3,200 strong force of highly-paid ornaments as a needless expense.
Many of the giants were integrated into other units and the regiment was downgraded to a
battalion.
This Potsdam Giants battalion was deployed in battle, during the War of Austrian Succession
and the Seven Years' War.
It was here they surrendered after the Prussian army was defeated by Napoleon's French Empire
in 1806.
The battalion was then disbanded.
Charles Darwin made note of the Potsdam Giants in a work describing selection in relation
to sex; "No race or body of men has been so completely
subjugated by other men, that certain individuals have been preserved and thus unconsciously
selected, from being in some way more useful to their masters.
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."
So as far as Charles Darwin was aware, this is the only case of humans being selectively
bred to create a race of supersoldiers.
Althought that work was published in 1871.
The whole idea of human eugenics and the creation of a race of supersoldiers was sort of tarnished
around the same time the toothbrush mustache fell out of favour.
So maybe we'll have to wait until human cloning becomes widespread til we see something like
this again - what do you think?
If you enjoyed the video, perhaps you'd like to learn more about the suffering people with
gigantism have to go through - I have a video about the world's tallest man that details
just that, as well as a whole host of other strange videos.
Thank you to all my subscribers, my Patrons and my channel members for supporting me,
and if you're not one of them, well thank you anyway for watching the video for this
long.
I'll see you next week for another video.
Stay safe.