Author(s): Alexandre Dumas (Contribution by)

Classics

The Three Musketeers is a historical novel written in 1844 by French author Alexander Dumas.Set in 1625-1628, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris and join the Musketeers of the Guard along with his good friends Athos, Aramis and Porthos.Dumas worked into the plot various injustices, abuses, and absurdities of the old regime, giving the novel an additional political aspect at a time when the debate in France between republicans and monarchists was still fierce.Another interesting aspect of the book is that Dumas created the four Musketeers based on real people.d'Artagnan was based on Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan (1611 -1673) who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard.Athos is a highly fictionalized version of the historical musketeer Armand de Sillèque d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615-1644).Aramis is loosely based on the historical musketeer Henri d'Aramitz (1620-1655 or 1674)Porthos is very loosely based on another historical musketeer called Isaac de Porthau (1617 - 1712)