Other editions of book The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of historical short stories by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard's most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour and glory, he is always ready with a stirring speech or a gallant remark to a lady. Conan Doyle, in making his hero a vain, and often rather uncomprehending, Frenchman, was able to satirise both the stereotypical English view of the French and – by presenting them from Gerard's baffled point of view – English manners and attitudes.Gerard tells the stories from the point of view of an old man now living in retirement in Paris. We discover that he was born in Gascony in the early 1780s (he is 25 in "How the Brigadier Captured Saragossa"). In "How the Brigadier Rode to Minsk" he attends a review of troops about to depart for the Crimea (1854–5), and this is the last identifiable date in his life, although "The Last Adventure of the Brigadier" has a still later setting, with Gerard about to return to his Gascon homeland. He first joins the 2nd Hussars – the Hussars of Chamberan – around 1799, serving as a lieutenant and junior captain. He first sees action at Marengo in Italy in 1800. He transfers to the 3rd Hussars of Conflans in 1807 as a senior captain. He speaks somewhat idiosyncratic English, having learned it from an officer of the Irish Brigade of the French Army. By 1810 he is colonel of the 2nd Hussars. He serves in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Russia. He is awarded the Grand-Cross of the Légion d'honneur by Napoleon in 1814. There are various discrepancies in the accounts of his life, not the least that in none of the stories except the last is he married. Conan Doyle enthusiasts have noted that Gerard is modelled on the real-life Baron Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot, a noted French light cavalry officer during the Napoleonic Wars.Conan Doyle wrote with great affection about Marbot's memoirs in Through the Magic Door. The fictional Gerard is not to be confused with the real Napoleonic officer Étienne Maurice Gérard (1777–1852), who rose to become a Marshal and later Prime Minister of France.... Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, nonfiction and historical novels.

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Having killed off Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned his attention to a very different hero. Brigadier Etienne Gerard is an officer in Napoleon's army - recklessly brave, engagingly open-hearted, and unshakable, if not a little absurd, in his devotion to the enigmatic Emperor. Conan Doyle's wonderful stories about the Brigadier - all of which are collected here - are as funny as they are hair-raising, and the Brigadier himself has long since found a place in the hearts of his admirers second only to that of the incomparable Holmes.

"The finest historical short stories ever written" is Conan-Doyle expert Owen Edwards' verdict on the Brigadier Gerard series. In this new complete edition, which includes 55 original illustrations by W B Wollen, the aged Brigadier tells all his tales of Napoleonic gloire, quite unhindered by any sense of false modesty. He was, he tells us, "the finest horseman ... and the best swordsman in the entire Grande Armee", an outstandingly brave, hot-blooded hussar who was, of course, beloved by any woman fortunate to cast her eyes upon him. Nor was the Emperor unaware of Etienne Gerard's accomplishments, and sought him out for a variety of secret, or especially dangerous assignments. And so we are told of wild adventures from the Peninsular War, Waterloo, the retreat from Moscow, Gerard's imprisonment in England, and even an attempt to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena.

Brigadier Gerard is an officer in Napoleon's army--ecklessly brave, engagingly openhearted, and unshakable, if not a little absurd, in his devotion to the enigmatic Emperor. The Brigadier's wonderful comic adventures, long established in the affections of Conan Doyle's admirers as second only to those of the incomparable Holmes, are sure to find new devotees.

"The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard" is a volume collecting 8 short stories about a courier and cavalryman in the personal service of Napoleon Bonaparte. The stories in "The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard" are all told in the first person by an aged Gerard looking back on his military endeavours in the early 1800s when there was no man prouder to serve the Emperor Napoleon. Etienne Gerard is a dashing, chivalrous, and stalwart French officer who becomes involved various suspenseful and often comical political intrigues. He battles outlaws, Englishmen and Cossacks and always maintains a his honor and his style. However, despite his ludicrous self-adoration, Gerard is a hugely likeable figure owing to the fact that he does display the commendable traits of loyalty and bravery that he cannot disguise.

Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of 17 historical short stories, a play, and a major character in a novel by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard's most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour and glory, he is always ready with a stirring speech or a gallant remark to a lady. Conan Doyle, in making his hero a vain, and often rather uncomprehending, Frenchman, was able to satirise both the stereotypical English view of the French and – by presenting them from Gerard's baffled point of view – English manners and attitudes.Gerard tells the stories from the point of view of an old man now living in retirement in Paris. We discover that he was born in Gascony in the early 1780s (he is 25 in "How the Brigadier Captured Saragossa").

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