An soldier in the Austrio-Hungarian empire who had always chafed under the direction of unskilled officers. Munchausen got his revenge after the war by telling everyone that he was an officer (of noble birth) inventing a series of exploits which became more outrageous over time, including a series of servants who did whatever he was physically incapable of doing. These were eventually collected, written into a book, and later a movie. See Munchausen's syndrome.