Everything about The Guillotine totally explained
The
guillotine (/ˈgijətin/ or /ˈgɪlətin/ in English; [gijɔtin] in French) was a device used for carrying out
executions by
decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which a heavy
blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head from his or her 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. The guillotine also "became a part of popular culture, celebrated as the people's avenger by supporters of the Revolution and vilified as the preeminent symbol of the Terror by opponents."
Development
The guillotine became
infamous (and acquired its name) in
France at the time of the
French Revolution; however, guillotine-like devices, such as the
Halifax Gibbet and
Scottish Maiden seen on the right, existed and were used for executions in several
European countries long before the French Revolution, the earliest reference to the Halifax Gibbet dating back to 1286. The first documented use of The (Irish) Maiden was in 1307 in
Ireland, and there are accounts of similar devices in
Italy and
Switzerland dating back to the 15th century. Nevertheless, the French developed the machine further and became the first nation to use it as a standard execution method.
In August 1788 France’s High Executioner
Charles-Henri Sanson, while attempting to execute a prisoner by
breaking on the wheel, was assaulted by a mob who freed the prisoner, and destroyed the wheel. Sensing the growing discontent
Louis XVI banned the use of the wheel. In 1791 as the
French Revolution progressed, the
National Assembly (at the suggestion of Assembly member Dr.
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin) sought a new method to be used on all condemned people regardless of class. Their concerns contributed to the idea that capital punishment’s purpose was the ending of life instead of the infliction of pain.
Laquiante, an officer of the
Strasbourg criminal court, made a design for a beheading machine and employed
Tobias Schmidt, a
German engineer and
harpsichord maker, to construct a prototype. Antoine Louis is also credited with the design of the prototype; however, it was Schmidt who suggested placing the blade at an oblique 45-degree angle and changing it from the curved blade.
Although Guillotin didn't actually contribute to the machine’s design, it was his name that it would carry throughout history, thanks to a comic song about Guillotin and his proposal which appeared in the Royalist periodical,
Actes des Apôtres, shortly after the 1791 debate
The guillotine retired
The last
public guillotining was of
Eugène Weidmann, who was convicted of six murders. He was beheaded on
June 17 1939, outside the prison Saint-Pierre rue Georges Clémenceau 5 at
Versailles, which is now the Palais de Justice. The allegedly scandalous behaviour of some of the onlookers on this occasion, and an incorrect assembly of the apparatus, as well as the fact it was secretly filmed, caused the authorities to decide that executions in the future were to take place in the prison courtyard.
Jules-Henri Desfourneaux, the presiding "number one" executioner at this time was variously reported as slow, possibly drunk and indecisive, certainly a far cry from his well regarded immediate predecessor Anatole Deibler. He was also prone to arguing with his cousin and "number two"
Andr%C3%A9 Obrecht which led to the latter's resignation on two separate occasions, the last involving a fist-fight between the pair after an execution.
The guillotine remained the official method of execution in France until France abolished the death penalty in 1981. The last guillotining in France was that of torture-murderer
Hamida Djandoubi on
September 10,
1977.
The guillotine outside France
As has been noted, there were guillotine-like devices in countries other than France before 1792. A number of countries, especially in Europe, continued to employ this method of execution into modern times.
A notable example is
Germany, where the guillotine is known in German as
Fallbeil ("falling axe"). It has been used in various German states since the 17th century, becoming the usual method of execution in
Napoleonic times in many parts of Germany. Guillotine and firing squad were the legal methods of execution in
German Empire (1871-1918) and
Weimar Republic (1919-1933).
The original German guillotines resembled the French Berger 1872 model but eventually evolved into more specialised machines largely built of metal with a much heavier blade enabling shorter uprights to be used. Accompanied by a more efficient blade recovery system and the eventual removal of the tilting board (or bascule) this allowed a quicker turn-around time between executions, the victim being decapitated either face up or down depending on how the executioner predicted they'd react to the sight of the machine. Those deemed likely to struggle were backed up from behind a curtain to shield their view of the device.
In 1933
Hitler had a guillotine constructed and tested. He was impressed enough to order 20 more constructed and pressed into immediate service.
The following report was written by a
Dr. Beaurieux, who experimented with the head of a condemned prisoner by the name of
Henri Languille, on
June 28 1905:
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