The Life of the Real 'Brigadier Gerard' THE YOUNG HUSSAR Volume 1 The life and times of one of Napoleon's most dashing horsemen Marbot has left those interested in the Napoleonic Wars an incomparable and highly readable account of the life and campaigns of a French cavalryman which spans his career from enlistment as a young Hussar to senior officer at Waterloo. Conan-Doyle based his famous Brigadier Gerard on Marbot and that fictional cavalryman's character shines through on these pages. Marbot's expansive recollections begin here as a young Hussar with a 'painted' moustache and sweeps the reader through the very pages of history, encounters with Napoleon and graphically related battlefield experiences - engagingly told by a soldier with a 'good stock of courage' - if he says so himself.