Why was the guillotine invented?

[kentuck]

Was it for the elitists that thought they were better than everyone else and did not have to follow the same rules or the same laws? Was it for those that indulged in greedy deception to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else? Was it for those that lied to the people to gain power and wealth? Do you think we could use one of those contraptions nowadays?

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Expedience

Sean & Rush could have an excuse for knowing nothing.

[Voice for Peace]

41. The Widow of St. Pierre is an excellent movie and features a guillotine as a main character

Highly recommended film
Maybe not for everybody of course.. not gory in the least.

[orpupilofnature57]

45. Just ordered it ,Thanks

[slackmaster]

2. It was invented to provide an efficient means of killing that also made for great public spectacle.

That kind of thing is regarded as barbaric by most modern, civilized people.

[kentuck]

3. I could see how...

...heads rolling into baskets would be considered barbaric, and below the dignity of civilized folks, even for the despicable crime of elitism and greed.

[orpupilofnature57]

9. MSM generated.

[Warpy]

21. At its time, it was state of the art for humane execution

Instead of hacking heads off with multiple sword cuts or having people slowly strangle at the end of the rope, this severed the head with one short, weighted chop.

It was invented for use on the uppity poor. It didn't end up that way.

[11 Bravo]

26. Correct! It was intended to be a more painless method of execution.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Invented by Dr. Guillotin

as a supposedly humane way to execute people, as opposed to hanging.

[panader0]

10. I always imagine that the head lives for a few seconds

laying there in the basket, getting one last look around......

[Jackpine Radical]

12. I have had the same thought.

[formercia]

17. Blink once for Yes, twice for No

Some curious Frenchman actually got some condemned prisoners to go along with proving that question.

[Kaleva]

24. Blink really fast for "Holy Shit! WTF!".

[Kaleva]

19. I've read about the eyes looking around and the mouth moving.

Research was done using rats but no one alive knows for sure.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2011/07/27/how-long-can-you-live-after-your-head-is-chopped-off/

[formercia]

25. No debriefing for you

Kamakaze.

[RKP5637]

36. Someone once mentioned that it supposedly does, somewhere in DU thread a long

time ago. I've always wondered the same. I'm no expert, but I imagine the shock to the nervous system might well block out any sense of reality.

[hobbit709]

15. Actually because beheading the old fashioned way sometimes took more than one blow.

[Egalitarian Thug]

40. That's why Henry used a connection and paid a handsome sum to import a French swordsman

to do Anne Boleyn. The standard headsman might do it in one, but often took 2, 3, or more whacks to finish the job.

[immoderate]

5. More efficient than hanging.

--imm

[Confusious]

6. Actually, kind of a funny story

The guy who invented it actually had his head chopped off by one during the french revolution.

[hifiguy]

11. No. Dr. Guillotin outlived the French Revolution

It's most enthusiastic supporter, Maximilien Robespierre, did not, however.

[JI7]

18. i read Robespierre was facing up so he saw it coming down on him

not sure if this is just something made up like Marie Antoinette saying "let them eat cake".

[hifiguy]

28. AFAIK, Robespierre was

guillotined conventionally, face down.

[Confusious]

29. You're right

I guess the actual irony here is that the good Dr. was against the death penalty.

Now his name is attached to a device that is synonymous with it.

Ahh, here we are...

The association with the guillotine so embarrassed Dr. Guillotin's family that they petitioned the French government to rename it; when the government refused, they instead changed their own family name. By coincidence, a person named Guillotin was indeed executed by the guillotine – he was J.M.V. Guillotin, a doctor of Lyons.[2] This coincidence may have contributed to erroneous statements that Guillotin was put to death on the machine that bears his name;[3] however, in reality, Guillotin died in Paris in 1814 of natural causes,[3] and is now buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.[4]
[edit]

[Siwsan]

7. A number of people who lived by the guillotine, also died by the guillotine

Just saying......

[The Magistrate]

8. Actually, Sir, It was Invented as a Humane Means Of Execution

Part of a move towards reform of criminal justice in the mid to late eighteenth century. Capital punishment prior was generally carried out by torturous means, with beheading by sword or axe being reserved for nobility. Even the latter was often botched, with several blows being required for final severing. The weighed blade, in its guide, guaranteed a quick, single, final stroke.

[CTyankee]

31. Some regal doomed queens requested their executioners from the best of the lot of

beheaders by sword. A swift, very well executed sword swipe was requested by Anne Boleyn, I believe. Those 1% folks even then knew the best way to go out...

[Peregrine]

13. No no no. It was invented

As a quick and humane way for amputations. It was invented by a MD.

[ms.smiler]

32. Peregrine, I am in agreement with you.

After researching our financial/fraud system for four years, I found myself with thoughts of the guillotine. That put me in the mood to revisit the history of the French Revolution. It was a physician who invented the guillotine for the purpose of amputation. The French people however found it extremely useful in their revolutionary efforts.

I was surprised that Occupy members turned up near Wall Street with songs, drums and signs. If they had arrived with a guillotine in tow, I as a pacifist doubt I would have blinked.

[JoePhilly]

14. Early form of cryogenics?

[L0oniX]

16. Because using an axe was too messy.

[Kaleva]

20. And a dull axe was used on those particularity disliked.

If you were one of the fortunate few, they who sentenced you to death would acquire the services of a skilled swordsman.

[hifiguy]

22. The French foresaw Futurama

[Raine]

23. Because it was more humane and kind than burning, impaling or being drawn & quartered. nt

[Lasher]

27. To cut people's heads off?

Just a guess.

[fascisthunter]

30. shhhh... you'll piss off a fragile upper crust muffin!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. The actual reason for the invention of the guillotine

was that it was considered to be a quicker, more humane means of execution than the rather gruesome methods that were in use previously.

[RebelOne]

34. A swift way to kill people. n/t

[kenny blankenship]

35. The phonebook for Paris had become too long

A plan was devised for shortening all those names with a "de " fronting more or less ordinary surnames -reclaiming a clear waste of ink and white space. Chopping up these names, which often also sported ostentatiously hyphenated surnames and a preceding string of up to half a dozen Christian names made sense to phonebook planners of the day as an economizing measure.

Just consider these contrasting examples:
A) Le Comte Jean-Batiste François Joseph de Sade
B) Jean Marais

A, the father of the famous author, is taking up more than twice the space of B. Is this fair? And with the passing generations of "de So and Sos" the names just get longer and longer. The other more modest members of the phonebook and the book's editors could not be expected to put up with this trend indefinitely.

Just lop off all the superfluous de, removing the useless ornament and accretions of society, and there would be more room in the book of life for everyone else, they reasoned. The simplest of economies, and look how much fuss was raised over it.

[DonCoquixote]

37. what literally happened was

The old French way of beheading was with swords. This was actually a sense of national pride, as the English used crude axes. if you remember, Anne Boleyn requested a French swordsman rather than an axe-man, and Henry VIII actually granted that. However, when the executions started happening, the swordsmen complained that they would literally have to go through several swords a day to do the amount of kills that was requested. Think of your sturdy carving knife, working at a restaurant, having to shave a few dozen hams; it will wear. So, the device was meant so that mass executions could be done quick and reliably; bullets cost a lot, as did rope, and you did not need a lot of professionals to do the need. Hanging and shooting sound simple, but they are not.

Of course, there were two devices that were a proto guillotine, the Scotch maiden and the Italian Mannana. The scotch maiden had a sense of community justice, as the whole village would pull the rope and let the blade drop.

[RagAss]

38. So that I could have the best sig line on DU.

[alphafemale]

44. I see what you did there. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

39. It was an attempt to make the decapitations more humane

because most ax men just kept hacking away until the head finally fell off.

[Angry Dragon]

42. They have portable ones now

[Raster]

43. Yes. A Port-o-tine.

Serviced by the same company that does Port-o-potty.