Difference between revisions of "Guillotine"
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[[Image:guillotine.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Lithograph of a guillotine used in Denmark]] | [[Image:guillotine.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Lithograph of a guillotine used in Denmark]] | ||
| − | A '''guillotine''' is a device used in [[execution]]s, invented by Dr. Joseph Guillotine shortly before the [[French Revolution]]. Most guillotines have a heavy blade that is attached to a tall frame. The blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head. Dr. Guillotine also envisioned it as being used privately as a means to end the death penalty, although ironically, during the French Revolution, it quickly gained notoriety as being a public form of execution.<ref> | + | A '''guillotine''' is a device used in [[execution]]s, invented by Dr. Joseph Guillotine shortly before the [[French Revolution]]. Most guillotines have a heavy blade that is attached to a tall frame. The blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head. Dr. Guillotine also envisioned it as being used privately as a means to end the death penalty, although ironically, during the French Revolution, it quickly gained notoriety as being a public form of execution.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/19980210233233/http://inventors.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa103197.htm</ref> |
Dr. Joseph Guillotine envisioned the device as a more humane method of execution. (Previously, only nobles had been beheaded; commoners had been hung.) The French government adopted it as the official execution method. | Dr. Joseph Guillotine envisioned the device as a more humane method of execution. (Previously, only nobles had been beheaded; commoners had been hung.) The French government adopted it as the official execution method. | ||
Latest revision as of 14:37, April 9, 2019
A guillotine is a device used in executions, invented by Dr. Joseph Guillotine shortly before the French Revolution. Most guillotines have a heavy blade that is attached to a tall frame. The blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head. Dr. Guillotine also envisioned it as being used privately as a means to end the death penalty, although ironically, during the French Revolution, it quickly gained notoriety as being a public form of execution.[1]
Dr. Joseph Guillotine envisioned the device as a more humane method of execution. (Previously, only nobles had been beheaded; commoners had been hung.) The French government adopted it as the official execution method.
However, during the Jacobin Reign of Terror amid the French Revolution, the guillotine became a symbol of arbitrary execution as anyone who disagreed with Robespierre's leftist ideology, or even those who were merely accused of subversion, was executed by it. The guillotine remained a tool of capital punishment in France until its last usage in 1977, with the execution of murderer Hamida Dandjoubi. The guillotine's use wasn't limited to France. It saw somewhat of a revival during the rule of German National Socialism, being the execution method for dissenters after a mock trial. The White Rose resistance leaders were executed through it.
Among famous victims of the guillotine figure Louis XVI, Marie Antoiniette, Sophie Scholl and Hans Scholl.
Halifax Gibbet
A guillotine in all but name was used in the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire from the late Middle Ages to 1650.