Historedia
Episode 1 of 4

Escape and forged orders

When
23 October 1812
Where
La Force prison, Paris
Part of
Malet coup of 1812

Malet escaped captivity at 4 a.m. on 23 October 1812, donned a general's uniform, and used forged orders to free Lahorie and Guidal from La Force prison.

At 4 a.m. on 23 October 1812, Malet escaped from his captivity, donning a general's uniform. Dressed in this uniform, he presented himself at the La Force prison and, using forged orders, obtained the release of Generals Victor Lahorie and Emmanuel Maximilien-Joseph Guidal, to whom he announced Napoleon's demise on October 7 at the Russian front near Moscow.

Sources

  1. Malet coup of 1812 Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-11
  2. Claude François de Malet Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-30

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.