Dates That Matter

April 25, 1792

The guillotine is used for the first time.

Although devices for executing criminals by decapitation had been used before, the machine made famous during the French Revolution was developed by a French doctor named Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. Dr. Guillotin hoped that the machine he invented would be more humane than previously used methods, and also suggested that using the same method on all persons, rich or poor, would demonstrate equality in the former monarchy. There are estimates that as many as 40,000 people died by guillotine during the "Reign of Terror" during the French Revolution, including King Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette. The guillotine remained the only legal form of execution in France until the country abolished the death penalty in 1981. The Nazis also used the guillotine during the 1930s and 1940s, executing over 30,000 persons.

For more information...

The Guillotine
From a site that covers the French Revolution and Napoleonic era, a brief description of the use of the guillotine. There is one period print of the beheading of King Louis XVI which is not excessively gory.

Imaging the French Revolution
Contemporary prints and cartoons from the French Revolution. There are some depictions of severed heads on stakes, but they are in the category of cartoon gore as opposed to being terribly realistic.