Decapitation
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Decapitation or beheading is the act of cutting off the head from the rest of the body of a living thing. Beheading usually means that the removal of the head is intentional. It is generally done during a murder or execution with an axe, sword, or guillotine. If the removal of the head is an accident or unintentional, it is called decapitation. It can happen because of an auto accident, explosion, factory accident, a mistake during a hanging or some other violent accident.
Decapitation is always fatal, that is, the result is always death.
Decapitation can also describe the removal of a head from a body that is already dead. In these situations, the head is usually a trophy or a public display of warning.
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[edit] Famous people who have been beheaded
[edit] Biblical
- Goliath
- John the Baptist in the Gospels
- Apostle James, traditionally
- Apostle Paul, traditionally
[edit] China
[edit] England
- Anne Boleyn (1536)
- Catherine Howard (1542)
- Lady Jane Grey (1554)
- Mary, Queen of Scots (1587)
- Sir Walter Raleigh (1618)
- Charles I of England and Scotland (1649)
- Blackbeard (1718)
[edit] The Colonial Americas
- Panama: Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1519)
[edit] French Revolution
- Marie Antoinette
- Louis XVI of France
- Madame du Barry
- Maximilien Robespierre
[edit] Iraq
- Shosei Koda
- Kim Sun-il
- Kenneth Bigley
- Nick Berg
- Eugene Armstrong
- Jack Hensley
- Maher Kemal
- Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti
[edit] Switzerland
- Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg and 61 companions following the siege of Greifensee during the Old Zürich War (1444).
[edit] Saudi Arabia
- Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.
