Awesome / Flashman

• Flashman was present at three in one day at Balaclava: Colin Campbell's Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade, and the Charge of the Light Brigade. Ok, the last one was more a colossally stupid moment, but it's famous.
• In his very first assignment, he was one of only two British survivors of the retreat from Kabul in the First Anglo-Afghan War, and was found, wounded and unconscious, clutching the Union Jack. Granted, he was trying to surrender, but let's overlook that shall we?
• Also, in the first book, Flashman wins a duel. Although he had rigged the duel by arranging for his opponent's gun to be loaded with powder and no shot, when it came his turn to shoot, he missed on purpose, ending the duel in a draw. His shot instead hit the cork of a bottle several feet behind his opponent. The other soldiers then believed that he had not only missed on purpose, but was also an excellent shot, to hit a bottle's cork from that far. This was, of course, all accidental.
• In Flashman and the Mountain of Light, Flashman has had a hard time from a certain high-ranking diplomat over the conduct of his secret mission behind enemy lines. But now the war is over, and one of the treaty conditions is that the enemy turn over the titular mountain (a massive diamond, the Koh-i-Noor) to the British. Flashman had stolen it earlier, and he lets the diplomat know that they'll have to return the diamond to the enemy in order for it to be officially presented to the victors. How does he do this? He tosses it to him in full view of the officers' Mess. "Here, catch!"
• The climax of Flashman and the Dragon:
  • Flashman gets caught with the Imperial concubine by one of the bad guys, General Sang, who recognises him as an enemy prisoner and tries to have his men arrest/kill the two of them. Flashman calculates that there's no way to escape without having to fight, so he rises to the occasion for once, grabs a sword and duels with the general until he eventually manages to wound him and make his escape.
  • This is arguably made more awesome by the fact that having witnessed the atrocities committed by Sang and his subordinates, Flashman was actually going to kill him before he took cover behind a table and screamed for the guards.
  • There's also what follows the climactic fight: Flashman has the opportunity to escape with the concubine on the side of her carriage, but he just uses it to ride out of the Chinese palace before dropping off and riding back to the army headquarters to warn British leadership that there's a Vermillion death sentence on the prisoners in the Board of Punishments. This allows the leaders to force their release minutes before the Vermillion death warrants would have arrived.
• Flashman on the March: The British swiftly rout the Abyssinian forces with zero casualties on their side. Truth in Literature, too!
• Also from this book is a scene where the captain of Flashman's ship comes across some slave-traders. Upon realizing who they are he abandons his mission to chase them down and eventually forces the slavers to abandon ship and go ashore. After Flashman reminds him that pursuing the slavers further will cause them to kill the slaves and run, he just burns their ship and leaves.
• Annette Mandeville's Batman Gambit in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord: She tricks the Kuklos assassins following Flashman into thinking he's about to make a run for it so they try and kill him, allowing the police officers hiding nearby to arrest them for attempted murder.
• Flashman killing Joe Simmons to stop him shooting John Brown.
• Caprice's Big Damn Heroes moment in "The Road to Charing Cross" (one of the short stories in Flashman and the Tiger) when she shows up just in time to disarm and kill Rupert von Starnberg before he can execute Flashman.
• The battle with the Russians in Flashman at the Charge, when Yakub Beg and his tiny resistance force manage to thoroughly defeat the Russians by blowing up their ships with Congreve rockets. Helped by the fact that Flashman is utterly fearless for the only time in his life due to having been drugged with hashish before the battle.

---