The Guillotine Technique

The History of The Machine
This contraption popularly known as the Guillotine, was a tool used mainly for capital punishment in France during the French Revolution. Even though the machine was eventually named after Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, he actually did not create it. He played a role in getting a law passed in France that everyone sentenced to death should be executed by a machine. This helped form the idea of the guillotine but he actually did not create it. The actual inventor was Antoine Louis. “During the French Revolution, the guillotine became the primary symbol of the Reign of Terror and was used to execute thousands of people, including King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette”(“The Editors…”1). It was important to the French Revolution

Antoine Louis actually tested the Guillotine on dead bodies at a hospital. After his test worked it was put to work. “It was erected on the Place de Grève for the execution of a highwayman on April 25, 1792”(“The Editors…”1). While Antoine Louis invented the guillotine, the man he enlisted to build it was Tobias Schmidt a German engineer. The making of the guillotine was a little out of Tobias comfort zone considering the fact “he was a harpsichord maker”(Fabricius 1). A harpsichord is a “keyboard instrument, precursor of the piano, in which the strings are plucked by leather or quill points connected with the keys, incommon use from the 16th to the 18th century”(“Harpsichord…” 1). He was out of his element and without knowing it, he built a machine that was popular for hundreds of

Many of the convicted people thought the guillotine was an honorable way to die. “Dying for liberty was heroic in the view of many revolutionary French. Appearing dignified and unafraid on the scaffold was important to most of the convicted” (Whelan 1). The guillotine as bluntly as I can put it, was population control. Prisons were overfilled and had no room left. People were often executed with other inmates to allow more room in prisons. “ At the height of the Reign of Terror, several prisons throughout Paris swelled with inmates”(Whelan 1). Shortly after came the execution sentences. “Just before trial, most prisoners were moved to the Conciergerie, where they awaited trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Prisoners were frequently sentenced and executed on the same day”(Whelan 1). Along with population control in prisons and an honorable way to die, it also assured that the public would not bad mouth the nobility or any other public officials. “The guillotine’s role during the Reign of Terror was vital both politically and socially. Its threat to the French public deterred them from speaking out against the radical regime”(Clift