Why The French Revolution Became Obsessed With the Guillotine
The Rest Is History
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Join Tom and Dominic in the third part of our second season of the French Revolution, as they look at gruesome methods of execution under the French monarchy and how the Guillotine came to loom so large over the fate of so many.
In this episode, Tom and Dominic explore the transformation of executions. During the "Ancien Regime", royal executioners held an unholy status, and would strike up fear in the crowds as they walked the streets of Paris. But with the Revolution, the role of executioners in society was reformed, and whilst they lost some of their privileges, they were ushered into to a new, universalist France. And as the Revolution brought forward more and more enemies of the state, executioners were faced with more victims than the axe could handle. This, combined with an ever growing debate around the humanity and dignity of executions, would lead to the invention of a killing machine still used by the French state more than 150 years laterâŚ
00:00 Introduction
03:45 How the French see the guillotine
05:45 Guillotine as the symbol of the revolution
09:00 Violenceâs role in the revolution
12:05 The role of the executioner in French society
19:50 Execution as a religious Christian ritual
23:00 The most notorious public execution in the Ancien Regime
33:50 The invention of the guillotine
41:53 Reforms to the death penalty during the French Revolution
52:49 The first execution with the guillotine
54:20 How the guillotine built up a mythology of being the symbol of the revolution
57:49 Summing up
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Twitter:
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Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Video Editor: Jack Meek
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
20 Comments
One wonders how many people would have died in the French Revolution if they had to be executed the old fashion way. Or in the Russian Revolution. Or in the Holocaust.
Every time someone comes up with a leaner method of killing, it is abused extrajudicially. The guillotine did not solve the ethical and legal implications of capital punishment. It only enabled the state to find more people to punish.
Why The French Revolution Became Obsessed With the Guillotine
The Rest Is History
247,935 views
đ¨ NEXT EPISODE IN THE SEASON: The King Was Trapped... And Paris Was Comi... đ¨
đ¨ PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: How the French Revolution Descended Into B... đ¨
Playlist of the whole season here: The French Revolution: The Violence Begins
Join this channel to get access to perks:
@restishistorypod
Join Tom and Dominic in the third part of our second season of the French Revolution, as they look at gruesome methods of execution under the French monarchy and how the Guillotine came to loom so large over the fate of so many.
In this episode, Tom and Dominic explore the transformation of executions. During the "Ancien Regime", royal executioners held an unholy status, and would strike up fear in the crowds as they walked the streets of Paris. But with the Revolution, the role of executioners in society was reformed, and whilst they lost some of their privileges, they were ushered into to a new, universalist France. And as the Revolution brought forward more and more enemies of the state, executioners were faced with more victims than the axe could handle. This, combined with an ever growing debate around the humanity and dignity of executions, would lead to the invention of a killing machine still used by the French state more than 150 years laterâŚ
00:00 Introduction
03:45 How the French see the guillotine
05:45 Guillotine as the symbol of the revolution
09:00 Violenceâs role in the revolution
12:05 The role of the executioner in French society
19:50 Execution as a religious Christian ritual
23:00 The most notorious public execution in the Ancien Regime
33:50 The invention of the guillotine
41:53 Reforms to the death penalty during the French Revolution
52:49 The first execution with the guillotine
54:20 How the guillotine built up a mythology of being the symbol of the revolution
57:49 Summing up
LIVE SHOWS
The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Video Editor: Jack Meek
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
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