1792    Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.

1793    After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1793    Jean-Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these people are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.

1793    Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.

1793    French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.

1793    Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.

1794    Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the ''Ferme Générale'', is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.

1794    Maximilien Robespierre is executed by guillotine in Paris during the French Revolution.

1977    Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.