Guillotine
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The guillotine is a machine used to kill (behead) people (by chopping off their heads, or decapitation) as death penalty. It got its first common use in France during the French Revolution of 1789. It was in common use in France (including colonies), Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, and also used in Sweden. Since all those countries have stopped capital punishment (the death penalty), the guillotine is no longer in use.
A guillotine consists of a heavy blade attached to a rack, which moves on a vertical frame. When the rack is released, it will fall down and the blade will cut the convict's head off. Such devices were first invented in the Middle Ages, and used throughout Europe. But it was only during the French Revolution when guillotine rose to general usage.
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[change] The Creation of the Guillotine
[change] Joseph Guillotin
The Guillotine is named after a French doctor of medicine, Joseph Ignace Guillotin. Guillotin proposed to use a mechanical device to carry out all the executions. His proposition was on October 10,1789. Although Guillotin contributed little to the design of the machine, his name went down in history. The machine was devised by another doctor, Antoine Louis. Against the will of Guillotin, the device rapidly became known as Guillotine. Guillotin regretted this,up to his death in 1814. Guillotin wanted to have a more humane way of execution. However, Guillotin was against the death penalty, and thought there was a better way to execute people.
[change] Design and Creation
The design for a quick, painless, decapitation machine was given to Tobias Schmidt, a German Engineer. Schmidt built the first guillotine and tested it, on animals at first, but later on dead humans. It was made of two fourteen-foot uprights joined by a crossbar, whose inside edges were grooved and greased with tallow; the weighted blade was either straight, or curved like an axe. The system was started by a rope and pulley, while the whole construction was set up on a platform.
[change] Later Uses
The guillotine remained as the legal means of death penalty in France until 1979, when death penalty was stopped in France. In the Nazi Germany, guillotine was used to kill prisoners sentenced for serious crimes such as murder, treason or conspiring against the government. Guillotine was last time used in West Germany 1949 and East Germany 1961. The last person guillotined was Tunisian murderer Hamida Djandoubi in 1977.
