The Potsdam Giants was the name given to Prussian infantry regiment No 6. The regiment was composed of taller-than-average soldiers, and was founded in 1675. It was eventually dissolved in 1806, after the Prussians were defeated by Napoleon. Throughout the reign of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (1688–1740), the unit was known as the "Potsdamer Riesengarde" in German, but the Prussian population quickly nicknamed them the Lange Kerls.