Obsolete Russian units of measurement Peter the Great replace it with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. The basic unit is the Russian cubit, called the "arshin", which has been in use since the 16th century. It was standardized by Peter the Great in the 18th century to measure exactly twenty-eight English inches (). Thus, 80 vershoks = 20 piads = 5 arshins = 140 English inches (). A "piad" (, “palm”, “five”) or "chetvert" (, “quarter”) is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger. Alternative units: As in many ancient systems of measurement the Russian distinguishes between dry and
Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution Before the French Revolution, which started in 1789, French units of measurement were based on the Carolingian system, introduced by the first Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne which in turn were based on ancient Roman measures. Charlemagne brought a consistent system of measures across the entire empire. However, after his death, the empire fragmented and many rulers introduced their own variants of the units of measure. Some of Charlemagne's units of measure, such as the pied du Roi (the king's foot) remained virtually unchanged for about a thousand years, while others, such