The Guillotine Research Paper

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Pages: 3

History of the Guillotine

The first of account of the guillotine being in use was in Great Britain and Italy around 1300. The guillotine is said to have replaced the sword and did an amazingly good job at doing this. The guillotine was first used in the execution of Murcod Ballagh. The guillotine was not the first machine used to make executions rather the Halifax Gibbet, and the Maiden are both said to be predecessors of the guillotine. In 1789 Dr. Guillotin submitted an article containing all the new execution rules that were to be followed in the event of an execution. Within the second piece of the article Dr. Guillotin stated when the death penalty is sentenced the criminal will be decapitated and done so by a simple mechanism. The
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Guillotin. The guillotine was actually invented by Dr. Louis basing his design off other previous execution machines. The first blade on the guillotine was actually curved and rather than a razor like blade. In 1870 the new and improved version was because available. This new model of the guillotine came equipped with brand new locks, hinges, and release mechanisms. In 1939 the last public execution was held in France, and 38 years later the final execution was observed by the guillotine on September 10 in Marsille, France. One of the main reasons for the guillotine was to eliminate the possibility of an error by the hands of the headsman. The headsman served as the man in charge of executions, and executed people by removing their head with an axe. In some cases the headsman would miss with the axe, which resulted in a request for additional swings of the axe, thus making a mess of the body. Therefore, to eliminate the possibility of an error the guillotine was invented, and it never missed. The guillotine was also created to eliminate the various methods that had previously been deployed for nobles and commoners. The guillotine is said to have performed at least 40,000 executions during the revolution including two its more famous aristocrats Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. This brief history of the guillotine is both informative and intriguing. It displays the purpose that drove them to find a more effective