from Paul Joseph Watson: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

Most of us are familiar with the guillotine. It’s a set of stocks into which a person’s head is placed and secured before an extremely sharp blade is released from a height to fall at speed on a person’s exposed neck severing the victim’s head clean from their body. The guillotine was used extensively in France in the late eighteenth century during the French Revolution as nobles, political radicals, and even a king and queen were executed by the Revolutionary government in the 1790s. At the height of the Terror, overseen by the fearsome Jacobins, it symbolized how France’s revolution was soaking Paris and France at large in bloodshed. But few know the history of the guillotine itself, who invented it, and the inventor’s goals. The Early Life of Joseph-Ignace Guillotin People generally associate the guillotine with Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French physician and politician who lived during the 18th century. Guillotin was born in the town of Saintes in western France in 1738. A member of a middle-class French family, when Europe’s wealth and living standards were increased considerably, he was sent to be educated at a Jesuit school in Bordeaux during the 1750s. He earned an MA at the University of Bordeaux in 1761 before heading to Paris to study medicine. After several years there, he acquired sufficient qualifications to practice medicine by the early 1770s. The Enlightenment changed How Europeans Viewed Capital Punishment. Guillotin was interested from an early date during his career as a physician in the issue of torture, death, and capital punishment. This was the Age of Enlightenment in Europe when new concepts about human rights and ethical ways of the government treating citizens were being debated and even implemented. Thus, for instance, in the early part of the century, the French and British governments had begun to prohibit some of the more vicious forms of torture and capital punishment, which had been regularly utilized in Europe since the Late Middle Ages. Other practices, such as torturing women to gain confessions of witchcraft, were prohibited across many European countries in the 1720s and 1730s. However, by Guillotin’s time, people began to consider how to execute criminals if they were found guilty of treason or mass murder. In the late medieval and early modern periods, the typical manner of execution in cases such as this was to be burnt to death or hung, drawn, and quartered. Yet these brutal forms of capital punishment had come under increasing criticism, notably following the infamously gruesome execution of Robert-Francois Damiens, a mentally unhinged Frenchman who had attempted to kill King Louis XV in 1757. Across the channel in England, they faced similar botched executions. Due to events like this, physicians such as Guillotin began looking for more humane ways of executing executions in the 1770s. Who Actually Invented the Guillotine? It should be noted that Guillotin was not concerned solely with human rights. One of his proposals was that condemned criminals should be used for scientific experiments, claiming that this would be preferable to be killed. Around the same time, two individuals, a royal physician to King Louis XVI, Antoine Louis, and a German engineer called Tobias Schmidt, developed the device which would soon become known after Guillotin. Their prototype was effectively the guillotine which would be widely used in the 1790s, though Louis and Schmidt’s machine used a straight-angle blade rather than the curved type, which would be employed later. Guillotin became involved following the assembly of the first Estates-General, a French parliament, in over 170 years in 1789. The French Revolution began just weeks later as King Louis XVI and his government completely lost control of the situation. Guillotin became a member of the National Assembly. The parliamentarians began calling themselves and introduced legislation in October 1789 prohibiting inhumane forms of capital punishment in favor of a simple, swift beheading of victims. As a result, Louis and Schmidt’s device was adopted as the government’s method of executing individuals in late 1789. However, the guillotine, which was now named after its sponsor in the National Assembly, was altered to have a curved blade which it was believed would prove more efficient. Thus, the guillotine was largely invented by Antoine Louis and Tobias Schmidt, but the adoption of it by the French government during the French Revolution was the work of Guillotin, after whom it was subsequently named. The Reign of Terror The rest is relatively well known. During the Reign of Terror, which followed in the early 1790s, over 20,000 people were executed across France by guillotine, including King Louis XVI in January 1793 and Queen Marie Antoinette the following October. Eventually, even the head of the Terror, the Jacobin leader, Maximilien Robespierre, was executed by it in July 1794. Moreover, while the end of the French Revolution saw the guillotine fade from public consciousness to a large extent, the device continued to be used in France and other countries as a preferred method of execution for much of the nineteenth century. It was eventually replaced in most jurisdictions by other more civilized methods such as lethal injection or the electric chair. Nevertheless, it remained the standard form of state execution in France down to the late twentieth century, when the death penalty was eventually abolished. Thus, the device Louis and Schmidt invented and Guillotin popularised had a long two-century history in France. Sources Ciaran F. Donegan, ‘Dr Guillotin: Reformer and humanitarian’, in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 83, No. 10 (1990), pp. 637–639. ‘Robert-François Damiens’, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition (2009); Mary Eisener, ‘Killing Kings: Patterns of Regicide in Europe, AD 600–1800’, in British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 51 (2011), pp. 556-577; Jayne Mooney, ‘A Tale of Two Regicides’, in European Journal of Criminology, Vol. 11, No. 2 (2014), pp. 228-250. John Wilson Croker, History of the Guillotine (London, 1853); Daniel Gerould, Guillotine: Its Legend and Lore (London, 1992). The post The History of the Guillotine – Who Invented It and Why? first appeared on History Defined.

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We traveled to Road America in Wisconsin to catch the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. races and learn more about the program. Photos courtesy Royal Enfield. Women in motorcycle racing have always been the exception, not the norm. To change that, Royal Enfield’s Build. Train. Race. was created as a one-of-its-kind program that invites women riders to build their own Royal Enfield motorcycle and prepare it for racing, train with professional coaches, and compete in a series of races in either flat-track or roadracing.  Shea MacGregor finished in 6th on the wet track on Saturday. This is MacGregor’s first year at BTR, and she hopes to continue racing after she graduates from the program. Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. hopefuls send in their applications each season, and those who are chosen compete for one or two seasons. In the roadracing category, the women are given Royal Enfield Continental GT 650s, while the flat-trackers get INT650s. At the end of their time in the program, the competitors keep their bikes. One of the goals of BTR is to provide women with a starting point from which they can launch a career in racing.  The 2024 season includes four races and 10 competitors for flat-track and five races with 13 competitors for roadracing. The second roadracing event of the season was held June 1-2 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and we were happy to accept Royal Enfield’s invitation to the Royal Enfield Experience Center in Milwaukee to find out more about the series and ride to Road America to see the action.  The Royal Enfield Experience Center in Milwaukee showcases historic Royal Enfield bikes, as well as the current model lineup. Photo by the author. The Royal Enfield Experience Center is located in a brick building that was once a dealership. Upon entering, you’ll notice significant historical Royal Enfield motorcycles and memorabilia displayed around the room, as well as examples of the current lineup. In the back of the building, bikes were on stands being worked on. It doesn’t take long to tour this small center, but if you’re a Royal Enfield fan, a visit and some riding in the area are well worth the trip.  Royal Enfield offered a variety of bikes for the journalists on our ride, including the INT650, the Scram 411, the Shotgun 650, and others. With the other journalists who would be joining the ride gathered, we each swung a leg over a bike in front of the Experience Center and took off through the streets of Milwaukee. I was mounted on a Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650, a bike I’d ridden and reviewed before in Dallas, Texas.  The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 provided a relaxing cruise through the Wisconsin countryside on our ride to Road America. GEAR UP Helmet: Scorpion EXO Covert FX  Jacket: Joe Rocket Wicked  Gloves: Fly Racing Street Brawler  Pants: Alpinestars Daisy V2 Women’s Riding Denim  Boots: Highway 21 Axle Leather Waterproof  We took a scenic route up to Elkhart Lake, following flowing roads through the countryside and weaving into and out of forests and farmland. It’s a beautiful ride and another great reason to visit Road America for the MotoAmerica events. About halfway through our ride, rain began to fall, and it would continue falling throughout the day, resulting in a wet track for those competing.  Rain began to fall about halfway through our ride, but the roads weaving through wooded land were still fun to ride. Photo by the author. When we arrived at Road America and the Royal Enfield paddock, motorcycles screaming down the track drowned out the sounds of Royal Enfield racers and crew members checking over the bikes and discussing the upcoming races. Build. Train. Race. was scheduled for later in the day, so we had a few hours to chat with the competitors, explore the track, and watch the other races.  Road America offers motorcycle parking that’s a short walk to the paddock area. Photo by the author. The first thing I noticed in the Royal Enfield paddock was the sense of friendship and community. The racers and crew members joked with each other as they checked over the bikes. Everyone was there to compete, but they were also there to enjoy the experience, improve themselves, and learn.  Lauren Prince working on her bike hours before the first race. Photo by the author. Shea MacGregor is new to roadracing this year. A motocross racer for most of her riding life, she came to the Build. Train. Race. roadracing series to try something new.  “We’re all very competitive and we all want to win, but it’s a great community,” said MacGregor. “Everybody wants everybody else to be here too because we all want to race. I crashed this morning, and as soon as I got back, everybody was like, ‘How can I help you? What do you need?’”  Miranda Cain checking her tire pressure as the other racers in the Royal Enfield paddock also get ready for Race 1. Photo by the author. Another newcomer this year, Lucy Blondel, has been riding on street for seven years and started racing last year. Blondel is a picture of resilience, and even though she had a rough opening weekend at Barber, she showed up to the races at Road America ready to try again.  “Barber was really awful for me. I didn’t expect how intense it was going to be,” said Blondel. “I was having panic attacks, and I was just done. I’ve worked through that since. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I come from a family where that’s always been a thing, and you think through that failure if you don’t meet the expectations you set for yourself. So I’m just mentally prepared to be in the race by myself, improve my times, and then I’ll eventually get in the race with everyone else.”  The wet track on Saturday created a challenge that many of these racers had never faced before. Mikayla Moore is the dominating force in BTR. During her first year in the BTR program in 2023, she won every race. The opening double-header at Barber in May continued that streak with two more victories for Moore. But as I walked around the paddock on Saturday, Moore was noticeably absent.  I found out that Moore, who was also planning to debut in the BellissiMoto Twins Cup class that weekend, had an accident in the Twins Cup qualifying rounds that caused an injury to her thigh. X-rays showed no broken bones, but her muscle was injured.  The BTR ladies in pit lane getting ready for their warm-up lap. Photo by the author. As the women rolled into pit lane to begin their warm-up laps, the rain had slowed to a light sprinkle, but the track wouldn’t have a chance to dry before the race. Moore joined the riders in pit lane for the warm-up lap, but she dismounted the bike after one lap while shaking her head, clearly not feeling up to a race that day.  With Moore out of the race, an opportunity opened for someone else to score her first victory of the season. Moore quickly changed out of her leathers and joined the crew in pit lane to cheer on the others, while those still mounted on bikes put their heads down and got ready. These women who were so jovial in the paddock a few hours ago were now serious competitors determined to cash in a win.  Miranda Cain and Emma Betters finished Sunday’s race within 0.04 second of each other. Off the start, first-year racer Cassie Creer leapt ahead of the pack and continued putting distance between herself and those behind her, gaining up to a 5-second lead. However, Emma Betters continued improving her lap times and slowly closing the gap. Many of these racers were unfamiliar with racing in wet conditions, but they continued improving and gaining confidence on each lap of the 4.05-mile, 14-turn track.  When Creer crossed the checkered line, Betters had gotten within 0.225 second of her for a close 2nd-place finish. Camille Conrad, another first-year racer, finished in 3rd.  Even though Mikayla Moore (right) had to sit out of Saturday’s race due to injury, she was the first at the podium to congratulate the other racers. Photo by the author. At the podium, Mikayla Moore was the first one to congratulate the racers and give everyone a pat on the back. All the BTR ladies smiled widely as Creer, Betters, and Conrad took their podium spots. Just as quickly as the women had gotten serious and competitive when the race started, they became convivial friends again once the race was over.  Cassie Creer took home her first win of the season at Road America. Emma Betters and Camille Conrad filled out the podium. Photo by the author. While I was on a flight back home the next day, the BTR ladies headed onto the track for the second race of the weekend. Moore, with a full day of rest to recuperate and a dry track beneath her tires, took the victory ahead of Aubrey Credaroli and Cassie Creer. Moore is leading in the standings with 75 points, but her absence from Saturday’s race allowed Emma Betters and Camille Conrad to narrow the gap, both with 65 points.  The Royal Enfield Build. Trian. Race. roadracers compete again on June 30 at Ridge Motorsports Park in Whelton, Washington. They’ll have the chance to catch their breath before the final race of the season on Aug. 18 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  Mikayla Moore was back in action on Sunday, once again taking the victory, followed by Audrey Credaroli and Cassie Creer. If you haven’t seen the BTR action in person, I encourage you to get out to the races and see it for yourself. You’ll be witnessing the early stages of a greater diversity in motorcycle racing, and once BTR graduates are competing in other classes with bigger stakes, you’ll be able to say you saw them at their beginnings. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on where these ladies go next.  Visit the Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. website for more information.  The post Royal Enfield Build. Train. Race. at Road America 2024  appeared first on Rider Magazine.

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