A Brief History
On April 25, 1792, a major step in the history of execution devices was made when a “highwayman” (robber) became the first victim of the Guillotine.
Digging Deeper
Revolutionary France struggled to find humanity amid the brutality of the revolution.
Other bizarre methods of execution that were made obsolete by the guillotine included the breaking wheel, which was a variety of application where a person would be strapped to a large wagon wheel and be clubbed, breaking his or her bones and eventually causing death. These previous methods were intended to torture and terrorize the victim and the public, whereas the intention of the guillotine was to kill the condemned person quickly and humanely without torture. (See related list for more methods of execution.)
Other methods of beheading using an axe or a sword had been used in the past, sometimes with less than efficient results, requiring multiple strokes to accomplish the mission while causing a sloppy spectacle. Other beheading machines had also been used such as the Scottish Maiden, the Gibbet, and the Mannaia, all roughly similar to the guillotine in that they dropped a large blade from a height of several feet onto the back of an immobilized neck to detach the head from the body. The guillotine differed from those by having its characteristic sharp slanted blade (45 degree angle) which cleanly lopped off the head which then dropped into a basket.
During the “Reign of Terror” phase of the French Revolution anywhere from 16,000 to 40,000 victims of the “National Razor” lost their heads, and the guillotine remained the national means of execution in France until 1981. The last public execution by guillotine was in 1939, and the last legal use of “Wooden Justice” was in 1977. Note: The guillotine had many nicknames in France and in other places where it was used. Some of the countries that have executed people by use of the guillotine include Belgium, Germany (including Nazi Germany, East and West Germany), Switzerland, Sweden, and Viet Nam. In 1996 a Georgia (US) legislator proposed adopting the guillotine for executions in that state!
Whether decapitated while face down (usually) or face up (rarely), speculation as to exactly how fast one dies when beheaded has never been resolved. Some claim the disembodied head lives on for several seconds and can see, hear, feel, smell and think. Others claim the massive trauma induces nearly instant loss of sensation and consciousness. Researchers have as yet been unable to determine the answer.
Today in the United States the debate over capital punishment rages on, with the latest point of contention being the effectiveness of lethal injection drugs to cause quick and painless death. Question for students (and subscribers): What do you think about capital punishment? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gerould, Daniel. Guillotine: Its Legend and Lore. Blast Books, 1992.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1855 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1855">115 Comments
The guillotine is the most painless way to execute somebody because it was so fast to use
as far as capitol punishment goes, it would seem a little more humane if people weren’t laying in pain for 15 minutes after they have been injected. But, how do you show compassion for someone who didn’t show it to their vicitm (as long as they are exicuting a guilty person).
I knew that in the past, I knew there were different ways of beheading a person (such as with an axe), but I did not know that there were machines so similar to the guillotine.
I can’t believe the guillotine was still an option in France until 1981.
The only way I could agree with executions would be if the person would go quickly, without any pain or suffering. Of course, this is difficult if not impossible to study in most cases, so for the most part I am against it. But some crimes are so horrible that they probably deserve execution, we just need to find a means to completing executions without being grossly inhumane.
I can’t imagine staying alive for a few seconds after my heads chopped off.
It is interesting that this form of execution survives to this day. Having seen this in class how quick it was makes me think that it may be better than what we use to this day.
Interesting that they found a way to kill a person without torture by cutting their head off. I am kind of mixed on the issue of capital punishment. In some cases I can see the validity of it but in others I think people should sit there time in jail for what they have done.
As I was reading this I was thinking “Well if it’s quick and painless so why don’t we use this in the US?” Then I came to my senses and can’t imagine the public being okay with someone’s head being cut off.
Wow, this was used in France in 1977. Publicly in 1939, I don’t think I would want to be there for that.
Capital Punishment although cruel is necessary. The people that commit such heinous crimes like murder, deserve it. They deserve what they gave.
Capital punishment depends on the crime. Usually if it’s murder then that person deserves it. It’s really tough to call and each situation varies.
If I was going to be executed… the Guillotine would be my preferred way to go! — DAVID WARDLE
lethal injection seems to be the best way to go if i had to choose
Guillotine seems like it would be a much quicker way of execution than the lethal injection that is used today.
I wonder how much a guillotine cost, both in initial cost and maintenance fees, as well as cost to keep attendants and the like, compared to the cost of a musketball and powder/wadding; soldiers were already being paid, so why not just slug some lead in the temple and call it a day?
Was it one national guillotine or what? If so, was the blade changed at all? And if so, how often?
I wonder exactly how the blade was kept so sharp? How was it sharpened?
These Lady Gaga videos are very educational, she sounds horrible that the downside. I wish we would have had something cool to use when we had the guillotine in class.
Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.. I don’t believe in the killing one for there acts, even though it must be a justiciable punishment for the crime, but then we are just as bad as they are.
The video was great and surprisingly informational.
The punishment has to fit the crime. There are plenty of instances where you can make an argument for capital punishment.
I think I’d take the guillotine over lethal injection.
as brutal and bloody as the guillotine is, it might actually be less painful than lethal injection
Guillotine over lethal injection for me. even through it is a bit of a mess it seems like a quicker painless death.
It is interesting how they decided to be as humane in killing the monarchs in the revolution. Most people would have opted for a different form of death like hanging so that the King would have been publicly humiliated and would have felt pain for an extended period of time. While this does the job quickly, it would be interesting to ask some of the revolutionaries why they decided on the guillotine and not a more torturous death.
Its interesting that both nobles and peasants were executed in the same way using the guilottene. In a time when there was such a rigid class system where the nobles say themselves as vastly superior to the peasants I’m sure it must have been a hard fact for the nobles to except that they were going to be killed in the same way that peasants were being killed.
I was thinking the same thing as I read through this! As nobles have always been treated better then the peasants, but were going to be punished the exact same way; the fact that punishment was equal for either group makes a clear statement in the need to follow the law.
Also, I think it is very interesting how a US legislator proposed adopting the guillotine as a form of punishment here in the states only 20 years ago; I could never image using guillotines as a form of punishment now.
The decision to be consistent in methods seemed to be in good intention because all people were subject to the same methods and it is considered the least painful.
the way that people used to be executed with slow and pain full deaths seems very un ethical and rude to treat another human that way. i understand that the actions that brought the people to that place were not good but, everybody is still human regardless of their actions and we should still treat them with respect. In regards to current death penalties i think that the death is faster has to be nicer for the victim but i still don’t think killing one person can justify the actions of killing someone else for example. it just loosing two lives instead of one.
I find the methods of execution in France to be “overkill.” Death is already traumatic enough without using a wagon wheel to crush every bone in a human’s body or using the guillotine to behead both nobles and the common wealth.
The guillotine seems like a very humane way to kill people. I wouldn’t want it used on me by any means, but compared to other tactics for capital punishment (beating them with a club while they’re tied to a wheel), the guillotine sounds a lot more quick and relatively painless.
N.W.
The guillotine is so iconic- but it is interesting that the first man who had been guillotined was a robber. GW
Killing people with the guillotine sounds more humane than any other method that they had. I would rather be killed by that than the other ways they killed people for crimes.
AM
I do agree that executing people with a guillotine was probably the most humane way to do it than any other method they had during the time. Especially after hearing what happened with the woman that they mutilated, and taunted. Though, it was interesting to hear that there is a chance people are still concious when they get their head chopped off (I would not want to be that person).
I think that if you did a terrible enough crime, you deserve to die, but having your head chopped off by an ax with multiple attempts sounds awful. Also, the fact that there is the possibility of still having some of your senses after your head is disconnected from your body seems terrifying. But, I agree that the guillotine is the best way to go, even though the anticipation of it might kill me first.
Being guillotined just sounds completely horrid. The chance of being cognitive several seconds after being beheaded would probably be the worst part, in my opinion. The anticipation would make me sick, but if I had to choose between a sword and the guillotine, the guillotine would win.
The guillotine sounds disastrous but I would rather be guillotined than strapped to a wheel and tortured to death.
I believe that the guillotine was a very good tool for its time. It did its job and did it well. It worked for the French, but I could not imagine it being used today
I think the guillotine was very brutal. I don’t necessarily disagree with capital punishment, but I don’t like the idea of the guillotine. It is very disturbing to me that the heads were just cleanly chopped off and fell into a bucket. However, it would be kind of interesting to learn about what the body and head could do separated from each other and if the two can function at all without being attached, even it is just for a few seconds.
It’s interesting that the guillotine was still an option in France until 1981.
The fact that the guillotine was used until very recently in France is crazy to me. I had learned that before I read this article and through reading it, my interest was sparked once again in such a historic device.
While the guillotine seems harsh, compared to the other forms of execution I think it is the most efficient because of how quick it is. I’m sure somebody about to be beheaded would rather have it happen in one quick chop rather than a few chops of a sword or axe.
Although the guillotine seems cruel, I would argue that it’s better than being pressed to death like Giles Corey was during the Salem witch trials.
as technology went the guillotine was a better option than many of the past alternatives, but it is still incredibly surprising on how late it was used in history
I do not think the guillotine is at all right, but when you read about the other forms of execution that was used, the guillotine seems the least cruel.
Thankfully, many would now agree that these seem barbaric and have found better forms of capital punishment. I have mixed emotions on capital punishment.
At the time, the guillotine was truly a humane way to go. With a traditional execution of beheading, it would take the executioner multiple swings to fully cut off the head.
I guess the guillotine was better than the alternatives at the time.
this was sadly probably the most humane way to execute someone
During this time the guillotine was most likely the most
humane and the most effective way to kill someone, although I have heard that
people’s heads can still see for up to seven or so seconds after being severed.
I’ll never believe that this is a humane way to kill someone in anyway. (Not that any way is) There is proof that some mammals still can see and have consciousness for a few seconds after the decapitation.
They punished people before commiting death that what makes it so efficient. It put them through pain until the head was finally chopped off.
in some cases, yes i believe that capital punishment to be appropriate
I find it odd that in the 1700’s the nobles took pride in being better than commoners but they were all killed the same.
I always thought the guillotine was a cool device and how it worked. But I still think that a gun shot should be capital punishment. The drugs cost to much and a gun shot would be a lot cheaper and faster.
I believe that if someone commits a crime to someone else than they should be punished in the same way that they harmed the other.
Mankind is very good at inventing better ways to kill eachother
Even though the guillotine was probably the most humane way to execute someone at the time, being beheaded is still a horrible way to die.
I’m all about capital punishment, but I was still pretty shocked that there was consideration of bringing the guillotine back during my lifetime.
I would rather have a guillotine then any other type of execution. So much more humane. Don’t know how I feel about a crowd for it.
I definitely agree that the guillotine was much more humane then the hangings or the beheading via an ax. It was a much quicker way to go making death instantaneous.
I don’t believe in capital punishment. I don’t think a person should kill another unless it is in self-defense.
At least with the guillotine it took most of the torture out of executions if they messed up or were slow with how they were handled.
if there was a way one person to be killed, guillotine was the easy way out. more efficient than any other way to be killed back in this day. but i personally do not believe in capital punishment.
They could do stuff so much easier and faster without being super unorginized
People shouldn’t kill other people unless it is self defense or if said person went on a killing spree and is awaiting death row.
I think the guillotine is a more humane way than using an axe, but being beheaded is awful esecially if youre still concious afterwards.
Even though it does not sound humane, the guillotine was probably the most humane out of any of the other options considering it is a fast death without much torture. Regarding capital punishment in general, I think it is appropriate in some cases. However, the reasons during this time period are extreme, like robbing.
I, most of the times, am against capital punishment so reading about the guillotine only brought me chills. I cannot believe that it remained the national means of execution in France until 1981; that was only 35 years ago! People claimed that the person was killed instantly with this machine and there was no torture. I guess that it better that being tortured for two straight days of even more like I read in previous articles. However, if claims are true and the disembodied head still lives for several seconds, the guillotine is by far the cruelest invention because you “see” yourself die.
I think it is really awful to consider the possibility that a person could still be living after all that. It really would make it the worst kind of punishment if thats true.
I liked that the guillotine was a fast, non-torturous way of carrying out an execution. While the guillotine seemed awful looking back on it, it was surely a better way to die than other methods mentioned in this article, such as being tied to a wagon wheel and being clubbed to death by the public.
The guillotine was a more advanced way and less torturous way of killing someone. This partially took place in France and I was surprised to see it was in use up until 1981. I found it very interesting that the head still functioned for several seconds after the head was decapitated. The scientists still do not know if that is true and will probably never get to find out the truth behind this assumption.
Even though the guillotine was a more advanced way to deliver capital punishment it was still grisly. I’ve always been torn in my beliefs on capital punishment but I don’t beive it should ever be made a spectacle which it was often during the time of the French Revolution. I’m still not convinced capital punishment should be legal today. I wonder if one day one hundred years from now, people will be talking about lethal injection and how barbaric a method it is.
All of these methods of execution are gruesome to read about. Of them all though, I would prefer the guillotine because it seemed the least tortuous. I am really surprised that in 1996 somebody proposed adopting the guillotine method of execution. I would be curious to see if people actually supported that proposal.
What really jumped out at me was the 16,000 to 40,000 victims of the guillotine during the revolution! That number sounds massive! While it may look gruesome and promote public fear it is definitely a benefit that those who did suffer the punishment suffered much less than traditional methods.
This was the first major step in getting grid of the torture aspect of sentencing these people to death. This method also seems to have been fairly popular during that time because there was 16,000 to 40,000 victims killed.
The use of the guillotine is troubling to think about. I cannot believe that a Georgia legislator wanted to use the guillotine in the United States. This horrific weapon should never be used again.
While all of these ways of execution are extremely disturbing I would have to say the use of a guillotine is the least gruesome and torturous. I am glad that we have moved from these methods of execution.
The guillotine is the most humane method of execution that I have read about from this time. I have never come to a conclusion on wether I personally believe that capital punishment is wrong or not, but I am glad that executions have now been rid of being publicly seen.
This is not right then, nor now. I don’t care who you say deserves it. There is always another way that is not so aggressive.
I was completely shocked when reading this article that the Guillotine remained active in France until 1981. I had to stare at the page to ensure I was reading the date correctly.
I dislike reading about ways of execution. Even though the guillotine is a more efficient way of executing a person, it still is gruesome to read about. I was surprised to read that the breaking wheel was a way of execution. I think that may be one of the worst ways of execution I have read about yet.
Capital punishment is controversial. It brings discussion of morality and religion. Execution seemed like an easy answer in the past, probably resulting in a lot of innocent deaths. I am glad it has become harder over the years to put someone to death. No one should have that power.
The guillotine was a way to terrorize the public from crime and anti-government behavior. It amazes me that even in 1996 the guillotine would still be thought of use in Georgia. Even though it was meant to be a humane method of capital punishment, it seems awful.
I think the use of the guillotine was not necessary, but obviously back then it was the most humane device used. I think it is awful that they were killed this way, but it puts fear in others eyes to not commit any kind of criminal act.
I am surprised in 1996 a legislator from Georgia wanting to bring back the guillotine. From all the other ways of punishment and killing people this seems like it was the quickest and less painful for the person. However, it seems like one of the most fearful ways for the public to watch.
Execution in the earlier ages were brutal. I remember hearing that executioners before the guillotine would be so tired that when swinging their ax would often miss or not kill the person quickly. Family members and loved ones of the person being executed would pay the executioner to make sure it was a quick death. Imagine what it must have been like having to pay the person killing your loved one.
I find it amusing Georgia tried to pass a legislation to try to bring the guillotine back for executions. That is not as long ago as it seems. The only thing I can say about this form of killing is that it at least was not in any shape or form torture, it got it over with.
Although this is a terrible way to die, this type of execution was a lot quicker and easier on the person than some of the earlier ways of killing, such as death by suffocation with large rocks and iron. Either way back then the many ways of execution was very gruesome. It was interesting to read in the article about the Georgia legislator who wanted to bring the guillotine back. I never knew that.
The Reign of Terror lasted for under a year with 16,000-40,000 executions. That is an insane number to think about. Whether you believe in it or not, you cannot argue its effectiveness for its day. I am glad we have progressed from such forms.
It is weird that back then they thought the guillotine was a more humane way to execute someone. It is so disturbing to think that these things were actually used as a method of execution. I do agree that this was more efficient and easier but it still seems pretty torturous.
I cannot believe the guillotine was used on so many people, up to 40,000! Even more surprising is that it was still around in France until 1981! I have mixed feelings on capital punishment, but I am against the use of painful methods like the guillotine, even if it was a fast and effective system.
I used to think that the guillotine was inhumane, but relative to the other forms of execution at the time, it was quite the opposite.
Still, I believe no matter how efficient you make it, killing a human is not humane.
I cannot call killing another human, humane. Even if the way of killing them is efficient.
The breaking wheel sounds so beyond horrible. I would be very terrified if I lived in a time where that was used as a main execution style.
“Wooden Justice” is a fantastic way of putting it!
I am not sure if I would consider the use of the guillotine as humane… but I’m not sure any other way I could consider as humane.
People really do some horrible things but after reading this out of all of these the guillotine would be the most humane and the fastest and least painful way to go,
It’s insane that a legislator in Georgia proposed to use the guillotine for executions. It was probably one of the most terrifying, but it’s the quickest way to die.
Im so against the guillotine , and im still now , you can throw someone in jail not take their life!!!
It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about the possibility of still being partially conscious after being beheaded. And I can’t believe that in 1996 a legislator in the US petitioned for this!
The research on when someone stops feeling senses show have been looked into before the developed of a tool to behead people. I find it disgusting that they used to hang poor people and behead the rich before this tool, so because they were poor they had to go through a struggle before being killed.
i am not a fan of killing a person going to jail or prison would be a better fit specially when people are being falsely accused
Axes and swords were used in the past to be methods of beheading people.
I can never imagine someone going through that kind of torture back then. It’s just too inhumane.
Personally, I think lethal injection is too humane for some people.
If the crime fits the punishment then yes, I agree with capital punishment.
I definietly do not think beheading a person is humane. I feel that style of capital punishment is unnecessary.
I think that capital punishment is bull, because by killing the person who was in the wrong, what lesson are they learning by getting off easy.
I think that executing people for certain crimes is completely acceptable but I think only if all of the evidence is there and there is no way possible at all that something else could come back up and prove that person innocent. I also wonder if they ever cleaned the blades of the guillotines off after each execution?
interesting to see these inventions just to kill someone.
Every time I see a guillotine blade, I wonder how often they cleaned it. Also, if it was still used to this day, maybe some people would not commit crimes in the fear of being beheaded and having your disembodied head still able to see, smell, taste, think and so on.
I do agree with the death penalty. Certain people just shouldn’t get to live the rest of their lives after some crimes. But the use of the guillotine may have been the best way for back then but the thought of doing it now days is outrageous.
I do believe in the death penalty because some crimes are unforgettable. There must be a 100% result that they are guilty which is possible to find with the technology we have today. Us as a population, community want to live in peace and evil can completely take over someone’s life and they should be sentenced to hell for the crimes they committed.