Marshal Ney : Naval & Military Press : 9781474540254 : 1474540252 : 15 May 2024 : Biography of a Marshal in Napoleon's army who referred to him as the "bravest of the brave." He was executed by French royalists six months after Waterloo. Michel Ney was born in Saarlouis in 1769 and died in front of a French (royalist) firing squad on 7 December 1815, six months after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. He began his army career in 1788 when on 6th December he enlisted in the 5th Hussars and took his first step up the ladder that would lead to Marshal when he was promoted "brigadier" or corporal on 1st January 1791. A year later he was a sergeant-of-horse and three months after that, May 1792, a sergeant-major. In that same month war was declared against Austria and so began the long period of the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire which saw the rise of Napoleon. Ney's chance, too, had come and he made good use of it. He saw his first pitched battle at Valmy in September 1792, by whi