Guillotine

The guillotine, sometimes referred to as the "National Razor" because it was the official method of execution in France during the late 18th century, was a machine designed to quickly and humanely execute criminals by decapitation. It was very popular during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror for use by various factions to eliminate their enemies.

The guillotine was proposed and co-invented by Joseph-Ignace Guillotin and bears his name. Tobias Schmidt helped its development by suggesting that the blade be angled, resulting in a quicker kill. Around 1792, Schmidt began construction of one of the machines with the Royal Executioner Charles-Henri Sanson. However, after Sanson had executed two tax collectors, their men stole parts of the guillotine in order to lure him into a trap and seek revenge. Sanson later recruited the Assassin Arno Dorian to retrieve the parts. Once Schmidt and Sanson had all the necessary components for the machine, they tested it before being ambushed by more of the tax collectors' henchmen seeking revenge. They, with the help of Arno, of course fended them off.

The guillotine was later used to execute important persons such as King Louis XVI in 21 January 1793, Georges Danton in 1794, and the Templar Maximilien de Robespierre on 28 July in the same year, along with many others.

Reference

 * Assassin's Creed: Unity