The Morthouse

The night before his execution, Maximilien Robespierre tried to kill himself with a pistol, but he was unsuccessful. He merely shattered his jaw.

From Wikipedia:

The next day, 28 July 1794, Robespierre was guillotined without trial in the Place de la Révolution. […] When clearing Robespierre’s neck the executioner tore off the bandage that was holding his shattered jaw in place, producing an agonised scream until the fall of the blade silenced him. Together with those executed with him, he was buried in a common grave at the newly opened Errancis cemetery (cimetière des Errancis) (March 1794 – April 1797) (now the Place de Goubeaux). Between 1844 and 1859 (probably in 1848), the remains of all those buried there were moved to the Catacombs of Paris.

Image: “Death mask of French Revolutionary & member of the Committee of Public Safety, Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) who was sent to the guillotine in 1794.” Unknown photographer, 1901. Source: LIFE Photo Archive, hosted by Google. 

The guillotine is most famous for its role during the Reign of Terror in the 1790s, but did you know that it was used by the French government to execute criminals until 1981?

Other governments have used it, too, including (for a time) the Third Reich.

Jean-Baptiste Tropmann, a notorious French murderer, was executed by guillotine in 1870. You can read about his crimes here.

Image: Exécution de Jean-Baptiste Tropmann. Source: Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée. Via Réunion des musées nationaux et du Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées.