a noose or an axe both put much more need on the skill of the executioner, while the guillotine puts more need on the skill of the engineer. both the axe and the noose are materially simpler, but still very fuckupable without special skills or training, while the guillotine, once built, is much more simply operated by one with less expertise. the guillotine is a tool of mass execution, and its apparent mechanical complexity is there to facilitate that, via ease of operation and resetability.
this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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Absolutely. The National Assembly voted the guillotine, βthe most gentle of lethal methods.β
This thread led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, so I suppose I'll post some of my meager findings.
Of course, the Wikipedia Article On The Guillotine includes a brief history documenting the evolution of it's invention, but is sparse on the technical specifications, which online searches also turned up a bit sparse.
I did eventually land on this technical schematic PDF of the Guillotine from archive.org.
Somewhat amusing to find, you can also pay for the blueprints to creating a historically accurate replica guillotine here.
As a morbid aside, the Wikipedia article details under the Controversy Section the dispute as to whether a decapitated head remained alive shortly after the beheading and the eye witness account of someone witnessing the staring of a decapitated man's eyes after calling out his name multiple times. The description is deliciously macabre.
Don't think this really answered your question OP, but nevertheless, this was intriguing for me to look into, so thanks for sparking my curiosity with your post!
EDIT: Fixing various small typos.
A couple of observations from the schematics:
- Wheels on the side of the blade mechanism! I thought it just slid!
- Springs? There are springs?
Pretty sure they gave them a choice to face up or face down. Some chose to look at the sky one last time before the blade fell....might have been a better view than a basket with dried....and not so dried blood on it.
I choose...sideways. I'll make faces at some kid in the crowd. And when the blade comes down, my face will be stuck that way!
His mom will be proved right! Don't make faces or your face will get stuck that way!
If you're guillotineed.
I choose to believe OP is Luigi planning his next move
They were pretty well optimised, frequently sharpened and they had an angled blade with a decent amount of weight behind it. This means that there's reduced surface area at the point of contact so higher penetration. Guillotines don't miss as they've got a guide, unlike axes which were known for occasionally gouging the victim's back, because executioners did miss!