
The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard is a collection of short stories that follows the adventures of French cavalry officer Etienne Gerard during the Napoleonic Wars, showcasing his bravery, charm, and somewhat naive perspective on warfare and honor. Through humor, action, and romance, Gerard navigates battles, duels, and personal vendettas, often finding himself in precarious situations that test his quick thinking and gallantry.
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · First published 1896 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Military Fiction · 8 chapters · 100,553 words
You do very well, my friends, to treat me with some little reverence, for in honouring me you are honouring both France and yourselves. It is not merely an old, grey-moustached officer whom you see eating his omelette or draining his glass, but it is a fragment of history. In me you see one of the last of those wonderful men, the men who were veterans when they were yet boys, who learned to use a sword earlier than a razor, and who during a hundred battles had never once let the enemy see the colour of their knapsacks. For twenty years we were teaching Europe how to fight, and even when they had learned their lesson it was only the thermometer, and never the bayonet, which could break the Grand Army down. Berlin, Naples, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, Moscow -- we stabled our horses in them all. Yes, my friends, I say again that you do well to send your children to me with flowers, for these ears have heard the trumpet calls of France, and these eyes have seen her standards in lands where they may never be seen again.[A]
The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard is listed on Textopian as a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, dated 1896 CE.
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historical fiction · adventure · military · Napoleonic Wars · Brigadier Gerard · humor · action · short stories · British literature · 19th century · Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · French perspective