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Events on Wednesday 25 April 1792 2
1792Guillotine Used for the First TimeFrance adopts the machine for capital punishmentOn 25 April 1792 the guillotine was used for the first time, to execute the highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier in Paris. French law had recently mandated a uniform, mechanical method of execution for all capital crimes regardless of social class. The device became the dominant symbol of revolutionary justice during the Terror that followed.
1792La Marseillaise ComposedRouget de Lisle writes France's future anthemIn late April 1792, shortly after France declared war on Austria, army officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle wrote the words and music of "Chant de guerre pour l'Armee du Rhin" in Strasbourg. Sung by volunteers marching to Paris from Marseille, it became known as La Marseillaise. It was later adopted as the French national anthem.