How Did The Guillotine Play A Role In The French Revolution

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1789 to 1799. On July 14th, 1789 the Revolution started with the Storming of Bastille. The Bastille was a prison that held political prisoners. There were only 7 prisoners at the time. It made revolutionaries think about the monarchs abuse of power. On March 20th, 1792 the guillotine became the official method of execution. This played a crucial role in the French Revolution in many ways. A guillotine was a machine that is made up of a large, tall, and upright frame. An angled blade will be risen to the top and let go. The suspected or condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame. This will position the neck right below the sharp blade. The blade will be then released, to quickly fall at great speed and great force …show more content…

A couple of the, could probably be named from the top of your head. There names range from Napoleon Bonaparte, King Louis XVI, and Joan of Arc. Napoleon Bonaparte was a french military leader from 1804 to 1814. He led an army of many soldiers. Napoleon was mostly for the attempted invasion of Russia in 1812. The French military a grand total of 685,000 men, 1,393 guns and around 180,000 to 200,000 horses. The Russians however had 488,000 men and 1,372 guns. They had a total peak of 900,000 soldiers and militia. The French suffered devastating losses. Around 340,000 to 400,000 men where killed. 50,000 wounded and 80,000 deserted. Russians also had seemed to take heavy losses with 210,000 dead, 150,000 wounded, and 50,000 deserted. Over 1,000,000 soldiers and civilians were killed. The french had been pushing western Russia for several weeks winning minor engagements and also had a decisive victory at the battle of Smolensk in August. Napoleon had hoped the battle would of won the war for him, but the Russians kept retreating with the french on their backs. As the french followed the Russians started using scorched earth tactics by burning down farms and crops. This was very smart because the Russians knew the French would have to rely on farms and crops to feed an army pf over half a million. This made the french have to rely on their supply line. This made it just about impossible for the French to feed their entire army. Russian army retreated for almost 3 months. The response to all the heavy loses the Russian General was replaced by Prince Mikhail Kutuzov on August 29th. When the French had retreated into Moscow they were relentlessly attacked from Russian Peasants and Cossacks. Not only were they taking casualties from frostbite and starvation but from all minor engagements. Many french soldiers died from the Russian Winter. More major fighting along Vyazma and Krasnoi had devastated the

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