What was the primary execution device used during the Reign of Terror?

The guillotine was the primary execution device used during the Reign of Terror.

The machine used a heavy, angled blade mounted in a tall wooden frame to decapitate a prisoner quickly. Physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin advocated a standardized method of execution in 1789, arguing that condemned people of every social class should face the same punishment. The device was later designed and refined by surgeon Antoine Louis and engineer Tobias Schmidt.

The guillotine became the signature instrument of the Terror, the period from roughly 1793 to 1794 when revolutionary governments carried out mass arrests and executions. It was used for both prominent figures, including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and thousands of less famous prisoners.

The machine was not invented during the Revolution; similar beheading devices had existed elsewhere in Europe. Nor did every execution use it—shootings and other methods occurred—but in revolutionary France, the guillotine became the dominant and most powerful symbol of state violence.