"Day of 21 January 1793 the death of Louis Capet on the Place de la Révolution" – French engraving (1794).
Louis XVI (Louis Auguste de Bourbon), former King of France since the abolition of the monarchy, was publicly executed on 21 January 1793 during the French Revolution at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. At his trial four days prior, the National Convention had convicted the former king of high treason in a near-unanimous vote; while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained. Ultimately, they condemned him to death by a simple majority. The execution by guillotine was performed by Charles-Henri Sanson, then High Executioner of the French First Republic and previously royal executioner under Louis.
Often viewed as a turning point in both French and European history, this "regicide" inspired various reactions around the world. To some, Louis de Bourbon'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. Others (even some who had supported major political reform) condemned the execution as an act of senseless bloodshed and saw it as a sign that France had devolved into a state of violent, amoral chaos.
Louis' death emboldened revolutionaries throughout the country, who continued to alter French political and social structure radically over the next several years. Nine months after Louis' death, his wife Marie Antoinette, formerly queen of France, met her own death at the guillotine at the same location in Paris.
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LouisXVI (Louis Auguste de Bourbon), former King of France since the abolition of the monarchy, was publicly executed on 21 January 1793 during the French...
LouisXVI (Louis Auguste; French: [lwi sɛːz]; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the...
trial ofLouisXVI—officially called "Citizen Louis Capet" since being dethroned—before the National Convention in December 1792 was a key event of the...
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erupted in Paris. De Gouges opposed the executionofLouisXVI (which took place on 21 January 1793), partly out of opposition to capital punishment and...
representatives within the Mountain. The Girondins had wanted to avoid the executionofLouisXVI and supported a constitution which would have allowed a popular...
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Commons has media related to Public execution. A public execution is a form of capital punishment which "members of the general public may voluntarily...
deputies voted for immediate death. The next day LouisXVI was guillotined. Following the executionof the king, Robespierre, Danton, and the Montagnards...
executionofLouisXVI. French migration to the Canadas experienced a substantial decline during and after the Revolution. Only a limited number of artisans...
by the proclamation of the French First Republic. The role of the King in France was finally ended with the ExecutionofLouisXVI by guillotine on Monday...
youth, old age, the foundation of the French Republic and the executionofLouisXVI. The festivals included the singing of patriotic songs, banquets, games...
composer is not definitively known). In 1797, four years after the executionofLouisXVI, Wranitzky wrote Grand Characteristic Symphony for the Peace with...
non-affiliated group led by Jean-Paul Marat, and voted for the executionofLouisXVI. He was sent on missions to Lyon (in February 1793, before the town...
the turn of the revolution to republicanism with the overthrow and executionofLouisXVI, Britain had allied itself with the other monarchies of Europe...
government to pursue its actions. It was not until after the executionofLouisXVI and the annexation of the Rhineland that the other monarchies began to feel...
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