Execution of Louis XVI

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Louis XVI, the deposed king of France, was publicly executed on 21 January 1793, during the French Revolution at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. At Louis XVI's trial four days prior, the National Convention had convicted Louis of high treason in a near-unanimous vote; while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained. Ultimately, they condemned Louis to death by a simple majority of one vote. The execution by guillotine was performed by Charles-Henri Sanson, the high executioner of the French First Republic (and previous royal executioner under Louis XVI's reign). Often viewed as a turning point in both French and European history, the execution garnered differing reactions around the world. To some, Louis's death at the hands of his former subjects symbolized the end of an unbroken thousand-year period of monarchy in France and the true beginning of democracy within the nation, although Louis would not be the last king of France with the Bourbon Restoration by 1814. Others...

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