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Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head), or beheading, is the removal of a living organism's head. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, or knife, or by means of a guillotine. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, automobile or industrial accident or other violent injury. Suicide by decapitation is rare, but not unknown. In 2003 a British man killed himself by means of a home-made guillotine, constructed over a period of several weeks. Decapitation is invariably fatal, as brain death occurs within seconds to minutes without the support of the organism's body. There is no way to provide life support for a severed head with current medical techniques.

The word decapitation can also refer, on occasion, to the removal of the head of someone who is already dead, i.e., to a corpse. This would have probably made the most sense for the purpose of displaying the head to prove the fact of the individual's death or to instill fear in the populace by illustrating the likely fate of an enemy of the authorities.

Decapitation throughout history

Decapitation has been used as a form of capital punishment for millennia. The terms capital offence, capital crime, and capital punishment derive from the punishment for serious offences being the removal of their head. Political prisoners (labelled traitors) and serious criminals often had their heads removed and placed on public display for a period of time. For instance, in medieval England, the heads were placed on spikes along the walls of the Tower of London. Execution by beheading with a sword (or axe, a military weapon as well) was considered the "honourable" way to die for an aristocrat, who, presumably being a warrior, could generally expect to die by the sword in any event; in England it was considered a privilege of noblemen to be beheaded. This would be distinguished from a "dishonourable" death on the gallows or through burning at the stake.

If the headsman's axe or sword was sharp and his aim was true, decapitation was a quick and relatively painless form of death. If the instrument was blunt or the executioner clumsy however multiple strokes might be required to sever the head. The person to be executed was therefore advised to give a gold coin to the headsman so that he did his job with care.

  • Decapitation by guillotine was a common, mechanized form of execution invented shortly before the French Revolution (although an earlier version of the guillotine, the gibbet, was used in Britain until the 17th century). The aim was to create a painless and quick form of execution. The executioner, after chopping off the head, would hold it up to the crowd. It was believed that the head could still see for around ten seconds. They held the head up so it could see the crowd laughing at it before it fully died. It was used in France during the French Revolution and remained the normal judicial method in peace time, in use until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981.

  • Many German states had used guillotine-like device, Fallbeil, since the 17th and 18th centuries, and decapitation by guillotine was the usual means of execution in Germany until abolition of the death penalty in 1949. In Nazi Germany, the guillotine was reserved to criminal convicts. It is estimated some 40,000 persons were guillotined in Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. This number includes resistance fighters both in Nazi Germany itself and in those countries that were occupied by them. As these resistance fighters were not part of any regular army they were considered common criminals and were in many cases taken to Germany and decapitated. Decapitation was considered a "dishonourable" death, unlike an "honourable" death e.g. by execution by firing squad.

  • In Scandinavia, decapitation was the usual means of carrying out the capital punishment. Noblemen were beheaded with a sword, commoners with an axe. The last executions by decapitation in Finland in 1825 and Norway in 1876 was carried out with an axe. The same was the case in Denmark in 1892. The last decapitation in Sweden in 1910 was carried out with a guillotine.

  • It is of note that in the biblical Book of Revelation beheading is named as a method of execution of Christian martyrs during a great persecution (Rev. 20:4). There is no historical record of such an event, so certain commentators believe that this verse refers to the last great persecution of the church that some Christians believe will occur shortly before the Second Coming of Christ.

  • In traditional China decapitation was considered a more severe form of punishment than strangulation although strangulation led to more prolonged suffering. This was because the Chinese believed that their bodies were gifts from their parents and that it was very disrespectful to their ancestors to return one's body to the grave dismembered.

Decapitation in the modern world

Decapitation by sword has in modern times occurred in jurisdictions subject to Islamic Sharia, and by militant Islamists during the US-led invasion of Iraq. As of 2005, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar had laws allowing decapitation but only Saudi Arabia was known to practice the sentence. Militant Islamic groups have, in recent years, begun carrying out beheadings with small knives, some as small as pocket knives. Curiously, these "beheadings" begin with cutting the throat, then slowly hacking away at the spine. Historically, most methods of beheading use a heavy, sharp steel blade, cutting through the neck from behind, which quickly severs the spine, then cuts the blood vessels, trachea, and esophagus. The gangs' frontal approach more closely resembles Dhabiĥa ( a method used to slaughter animals, threby rendering the meat hallal), whose goal is to drain all the blood from the animal as quickly as possible: ritual slaughter doesn't require decapitation; only draining all the blood.

Less orthodox instances of decapitation have also occurred in recent times in some areas of Colombia. Right wing paramilitary groups such as the AUC have sometimes used this method to intimidate local populations and it has not been uncommon for their Left wing guerrilla enemies in the FARC as well as criminal gangs of druglords to also make limited use of decapitation on occasion. The primary means of decapitation in these cases has been the use of machete or chainsaw.

Terrorist group Abu Sayyaf is known to practice beheading in The Philippines.

In largely Muslim Indonesia, three Christian schoolgirls were beheaded and one critically wounded by alleged Islamic extremists in October, 2005.

Chechen rebels were known to practice beheading against the captured Russian Army soldiers during the First Chechen War. Four Western telecommunication workers (three Britons and a New Zealander) who were taken hostages for ransom in Chechnya in 1998 were eventually beheaded and their heads found by the side of the road *.

In April 2005, Saudi Arabia beheaded six Somali nationals for auto theft, causing tension between the two countries. Without a government however, Somalia couldn't intervene on behalf of its citizens. Somalis all over the world have protested the Saudi action.

Beheadings have emerged as another insurgent tactic since April of 2005. Foreign civilians have borne the brunt of the kidnappings, although U.S. and Iraqi military military personnel have also been targeted. After kidnapping the victim, the insurgents typically make some sort of demand of the government of the hostage's nation and give a time limit for the demand to be carried out, often 72 hours. Beheading is often threatened if the government fails to heed the wishes of the hostage takers.

Some famous people who have been beheaded

Biblical

Celtic Saints

Islamic

China

Britain

The Colonial Americas

French Revolution

Iraq

Saudi Arabia

See also

External links

Execution methods

Halshugning | Enthauptung | Decapitación | سر بریدن | Décapitation | Decapitación | 참수 | Decapitazione | עריפת ראש | Onthoofding | 斬首刑 | Halshogging | Ścięcie (kara) | Decapitação | Обезглавливание | Mestaus | Halshuggning | 斬首

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Decapitation".

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