Concept in Definition ABC

Machine used to behead people sentenced to capital punishment

The guillotine is a machine which began to be used in the Middle Ages and would become even more relevant at the request of the French Revolution in the 18th century to behead people.
At that time, it was the most widely used instrument in European countries to apply to prisoners the death penalty.

It is made up of a frame of wood On which falls a hyper-sharp blade that is responsible for cutting the head of the prisoner who is placed on it kneeling so that the objective of cutting the neck is fulfilled.

A violent, cruel and famous method

Without a doubt, the guillotine is one of the most violent and cruel death penalty methods that have been applied in the history of mankind and, as we have pointed out, a fabulous popularity during the late eighteenth century when it was widely used to execute people sentenced to death or death. death. As happened with the French monarch Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, who were guillotined after the judicial process that began against them after the

Revolution French that would put an end to the institution of the monarchy. The monarch and his wife were executed in the famous Plaza de la Revolución.

It takes its name from the French physician and deputy who promoted its use during the French Revolution

Its name derives from the French doctor and deputy Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin who proposed its use in the France of the revolution. In any case, and as we already pointed out lines above, Guillotin was not its creator, much less since similar machines were used since the 13th century.

We must emphasize that although this doctor was the promoter of the use of the guillotine when he occupied a seat in the AssemblyParadoxically, he knew how to prove himself against capital punishment. His proposal had the basis in proposing a method more humanitarian execution to those that had been used up to that moment.
In those years and of course in previous centuries, executions were characterized by their tremendous violence and cruelty.

Fortunately, in the early years of the 20th century, its use died out with the abolition of the death penalty in many states.

Guillotine Topics