Execution of Louis XVI
Also called: Trial of Louis XVI, Regicide
The National Convention sentenced “Citizen Louis Capet” to death for treason, and the king was guillotined in the Place de la Révolution.
Isidore Stanislas Helman / After Charles Monnet · Public domain · Source
After the king’s correspondence with foreign courts and émigrés was found in a secret iron chest at the Tuileries in November 1792, the Convention put “Louis Capet” on trial in December. On 15 January 1793 it found him guilty almost unanimously, and in the vote of 17 January 361 of 721 deputies voted for death without conditions, a bare majority. A reprieve was rejected on 19 January.
On the morning of 21 January Louis XVI was guillotined in the Place de la Révolution (today the Place de la Concorde). The regicide shocked the monarchs of Europe; France declared war on Britain and the Dutch Republic in February and on Spain in March, and the First Coalition took shape. At home the Vendée rose in revolt.
