. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade
is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body. The device is noted for long being the main method of execution in France and, more particularly, for its use during the French Revolution
, when it "became a part of popular culture, celebrated as the people's avenger by supporters of the Revolution and vilified as the pre-eminent symbol of the Reign of Terror
by opponents." Nevertheless, the guillotine continued to be used long after the French Revolution in several countries, including France, where it was the sole method of execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981.
On 10 October 1789, Doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
, a French physician, stood before the National Assembly
and proposed the following six articles in favour of the reformation of capital punishment:
- Article 1: All offenses of the same kind will be punished by the same type of punishment irrespective of the rank of status of the guilty party.
- Article 2: Whenever the Law imposes the death penalty, irrespective of the nature of the offense, the punishment shall be the same: decapitation, effected by means of a simple mechanism.
- Article 3: The punishment of the guilty party shall not bring discredit upon or discrimination against his family.
- Article 4: No one shall reproach a citizen with any punishment imposed on one of his relatives.
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.
And if my thought-dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guillotine.