A brief look at the guillotine
A brief look at the guillotine |
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Perhaps the most common image of a guillotine is of the kind used for beheadings during the French Revolution. The guillotine was designed for carrying out executions by decapitation, that is, separating a head from its body.
Guillotines for this purpose had a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade raised, usually by rope, to the top, and suspended there. The unlucky person would be positioned at the bottom of the frame, with their neck held directly below the blade. When the blade is released, it falls swiftly and severs the head from the body. |
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The guillotine continued to be used after the Revolution was over, and it was the usual method of execution in France until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. The last person guillotined in France was Hamida Djandoubi, on 10/09/77.
In other countries, the guillotine was known by other names: the Halifax Gibbet in England, (an early type of guillotine used from the 1700’s), the Scottish Maiden in Scotland, and the Fallbeil in Germany. |
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