The guillotine was used as a form of capital punishment in France from 1792 to 1977. The device is named for Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, although it was not actually invented by him. Dr. Guillotin was a Frenchman who was outraged that criminals who were put to death had to suffer so much before dying, and he called for a more humane form of punishment. He figured out that a beheading delivered the least amount of torture. …showed first 75 words of 487 total…

…showed last 75 words of 487 total…gled blade of the guillotine. They were made flat or round to resemble the chopping action of an axe, whereas a guillotine was made to resemble the cleaner cut of a sword. The Guillotine was used for 188 years, and had over 1 million victims. Not only did it strike fear into the hearts of many a would-be criminal, it changed the way capital punishment was viewed, eventually leading to the complete abolition of it in France.