The Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde Imperiale was the Emperor Napoleon's habitual escort and a valuable cavalry reserve in battle. It was a unit formed of light cavalrymen of proven courage but also of outstanding moral fiber who had to serve as an example to the rest of the army. This book recounts the history of this legendary unit, a unit whose antecedants can be traced back to the first battles won by Napoleon in Italy and to the burning sands of the Egyptian desert. Indeed a unit that paid the price demanded by glory and the ignominy of war, with its blood spilled on the plateaus of Austerlitz, the frozen countryside of Prussia and on the streets of Madrid.Each Chassear a Cheval of the Imperial Guard, like Napoleon, was a hero who had confronted and conquered the fear of death. Their memory continues to inspire the modern would-be hero."