On December 7, 1815, the unfortunate Marshal Ney, Napoleon's "bravest of the brave", was executed by firing squad for treason.
Ney was one of Napoleon's Marshals who pressured him to abdicate in 1814, for which he was much rewarded by the new King Louis XVIII. A year later, when Napoleon escaped Elba and returned to France, Ney changed sides again, joining Napoleon in the campaign that ended at Waterloo.
Initially he had marched against his former leader but, according to the account he gave at his trial, he had to switch sides when he saw that the army was still loyal to Napoleon, in order to prevent a civil war.
"It is said that I told the King I would bring back Buonaparte in an iron cage. If I said so, it was a foolish thing, but still a pardonable one. It proved that I had in my heart (striking his breast) the intention of serving the King."
As reported, it wasn't an impressive defence, and he was convicted of "the crime of high treason and attack on the safety of the State - an attack the object of which was to change the form of the Government, and the legitmate order of succession to the throne".
His sentence was to be stripped of his membership of the Légion d'Honneur, and to be shot "within the 24 hours".
The same day's newspaper that reported the trial carried the account of his death. He had not been in court to hear the verdict and sentence.
