THE GUILLOTINE

Hardliners in charge of the new secular gomen led France to war against a coalition of Austria, Prussia and French émigrés in April 1792.

Austria is the country of birth of Marie Antoinette, France’s unpopular and extravagant queen consort. In fact, Marie Antoinette – a Habsburg archduchess in her own right – was sister to Leopold II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Her husband the French king Louis XVI had refused to contemplate a civil war and was overthrown on 10 Aug 1792. On orders from the National Convention in January of the following year, the king’s head was chopped off.

A few months later on 14 Oct 1793, Marie Antoinette too surrendered her head to the guillotine‘s glinting blade in the centre of the public square.

(adapted after Helen Ang)