Medieval Origins
Although it was indeed the French who first adopted the guillotine extensively at the end of the eighteenth century, similar mechanisms for beheading had already appeared in medieval Europe. Germany, Italy, and England knew instruments resembling this swift execution apparatus long before the French Revolution brought it worldwide notoriety.
On the British Isles, a device known as the Halifax Gibbet had been in use since the thirteenth century. Unlike the guillotine, however, the Gibbet claimed fewer victims—fewer than sixty in total. By contrast, the French invention could dispatch a far greater number of individuals within just a few days.
A More “Humane” Execution Method
The guillotine was named after Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, who, paradoxically, did not support the death penalty. Realizing that abolishing capital punishment would not be achievable, he lobbied the National Assembly for a more humane, straightforward, and efficient means of execution.
Surgeon Antoine Louis took up this challenge and built the very first guillotine in 1792. Unlike older devices, this new model featured a diagonal blade. Although it was briefly called the “Louissette,” that name soon fell out of use.
An Extremely Efficient Killing Machine
The French Revolution was notoriously merciless. Within a few short years, the blade of the guillotine ended more than 17,000 lives, not only among commoners but also nobles—including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
One of the chief architects of this bloody terror was Maximilien Robespierre, the Jacobin leader, who ultimately lost his own head under the very instrument he had wielded so ruthlessly. He met his fate on July 28, 1794.
Surprisingly Recent Use
Those who assume the guillotine vanished with Napoleon’s ascent and the end of the Revolution would be mistaken.
In France, it carried out executions as recently as 1977. The last individual executed in this manner was Hamid Djandoubi.