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The guillotine is a machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation.
It consists of a tall upright frame (approx 4m high) from which is suspended a heavy triangular blade (approx 40kg). The blade is hauled to the top of the frame on a stout cord and held in place while the victim has his/her head placed in a restraining bar. The cord is released and the heavy blade falls a distance of 2.3m, severing the neck. (Heights and weights are the French standards.)
Guillotinelike devices ( gibbets) existed and were used for executions in Britain before the French Revolution but the French developed the machine further and became the first nation to use it as a standard execution method. On April 25 1792 highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person executed by guillotine.
It takes its name from Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French doctor and member of the Revolutionary National Assembly, on whose suggestion it was introduced. The descendants of Dr. Guillotin have since changed their surname because of the association with a method of execution.
The basis for his recommendation is believed to have been his perception that it was a humane form of execution, contrasting with the methods used in pre-revolutionary, ancien régime France. In France, before the guillotine, members of the nobilityThe nobility represents, or has represented, the higher stratum of a society in which social classes can be distinguished. The most distinctive feature of nobilty is that once acquired, it is passed to descendants, possibly according to some rules. Initia were beheaded with a sword or axe, while commoners were usually hanged, or more gruesome methods of executions were used ( the wheelThe breaking wheel (originally, the whele was a torture and capital punishment device of the Middle Ages and early modern times. The wheel itself was similar to a large wooden wagon wheel, with many radial spokes. The victim's arms and legs were placed on, burning at the stake...). In case of decapitation, sometimes it took repeated blows to completely sever the head. The family of the victim or the victim themselves would sometimes pay the executioner to ensure that the blade was sharp in order for a quick and relatively painless death. The guillotine was thus perceived to deliver an instantaneous death without risk of misses. There is however some debate as to the humane nature of the guillotine, as some authorities believe that the victim can remain conscious for up to 30 seconds after decapitation. Furthermore, having only one method of execution was seen as enforcing the value of equality between citizens.
The guillotine was from then on the only legal execution method in France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981Events January-February January Sarawak Chamber found January 1 Greece enters the EEC January 1 Palau becomes self-governing January 4 Sheffield police arrests Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper January 16 Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette D, apart from certain crimes against the security of the state. The last execution was of Hamida DjandoubiHamida Djandoubi (b. 1949?, Tunisia d. September 10, 1977, Marseille, France) was the last person to be guillotined in France by the French government ( September 10, 1977), at Baumettes Prison in Marseille. He was a immigrant from Tunisia who had been co and took place on September 10September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). There are 112 days following it. Events 1608 John Smith elected council president of Jamestown, Virginia 1776 Nathan Hale volunteers to spy 1813 The U. defeats the British Fleet at the Battl, 1977For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). Events January 1 First woman Episcopal priest ordained January 6 EMI sacks the Sex Pistols January 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious " legionnaire's disease" Januar.
In France, executions by guillotine were also regarded as a public entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators. The last public execution was of Eugene Weidmann, who was convicted for six murders. It took place on September 10, 1939 at 4:32 in the afternoon outside the prison Saint Pierre rue Georges Clémenceau 5 at Versailles, which is now the Palais de Justice. The scandalous behaviour of some of the onlookers on this occasion caused the authorities to decide that executions in the future were to take place in the prison courtyard.
From Napoleonic times, the guillotine was used in many places in Germany. The Nazis employed it extensively: twenty guillotines were in use in Germany and (from 1938) in Austria. As many as 20,000 people may have been executed; for an example see White Rose.
The guillotine was not, however, a French invention—although Guillotin is often named as its inventor, similar devices have been used in Scotland (see: Scottish Maiden ), Italy and Switzerland before 1600. This type of device also has had a history as a farm implement used for killing poultry in Germany, England, and Persia before being introduced as a method of capital punishment.
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