Why complex executions as opposed to a bullet? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

I'm a novice but I'll take a crack at this until someone with letters after their name answers it.

Executions (in the Western world) have historically served three purposes: criminal punishment, deterrence, and entertainment. For a good portion of Western European history, kingdoms and states followed Catholic guidelines for execution in which blood should not be spilled, hence hangings, being broken on the wheel, crow cages, garroting, drowning, and being burned alive were popular methods of execution. Keeping the body in one piece was also a guideline so the condemned might one day be resurrected if they had asked God to pardon their sins before they were executed. Exceptions existed for both and I'll address them in the deterrence section.

Humane deaths didn't become a mainstream feature of most criminal justice systems until relatively recently. Those who broke the law and were sentenced to death weren't necessarily viewed as people who deserved a merciful painless death. Capital crimes usually required the accused to confess to the crime before they could be executed. Some people confessed right away and hoped for a merciful death while others were tortured into a confession (though if you could successfully make it through days or weeks of torture, the magistrate would usually set you free- you know, if you didn't die from the torture or subsequent infections from torture). Americans are usually familiar with the torture and death of Giles Corey of Salem witchcraft fame in which he was pressed to death by stones during torture to elicit a confession of sorcery from him. As time went on, torture requirements ended and people were condemned to death via judges and juries. So usually when people were put to death, the crowd had a reasonable expectation to believe that the condemned was indeed guilty and worthy of their prescribed punishment. Death was the ultimate punishment of course, but so was the manner of death. Hanging, for example. The "long drop and sudden stop" in which the neck is broken by a well placed knot and a long fall is a recent invention. Traditionally those who died of hanging choked to death only a few inches to a foot or so off the ground. Family members could pay an executioner to ensure their loved one's death went quickly, such as pulling on the body while they're hanging or putting gunpowder around the neck of someone being burnt to death (using green wood that smoked a lot and caused smoke inhalation deaths was also popular). It should be mentioned that what was considered a capital crime wasn't necessarily a "life for a life" act. Fraud, forgery, rape, incest, blasphemy, heresy, embezzelment, theft of items over a certain amount, and poaching were all capital offenses at one point in Western European history.

Some execution methods were particularly gruesome on purpose as a deterrent to others. A famous example is a death reserved for traitors in England (if you've seen Braveheart, this was how William Wallace died). Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered was a very public execution of hanging the condemned until they were almost dead, castration, disemboweling, beheading, and then cutting them into four pieces. A good executioner was someone who could keep a person alive long enough to behead them. The idea was to prolong suffering as much as possible to punish the offender but also as a warning to others who might consider treason. Their dismembered body buried in various locations assured the condemned that they would be denied eternal life after the resurrection. Being broken on the wheel was another deterrent. The wheel was reserved for particularly horrible crimes like aggravated murder, rape and murder, etc. The condemned was tied to a wagon wheel (or an X shaped wooden structure) and his various limbs were bludgeoned until they broke. If the condemned committed a particularly brutal murder, his legs were broken first, then his arms, and he would be left on the wheel for days to die of exposure and dehydration. Some lesser offenses would mean breaking the neck immediately or the same day as the other limbs were broken so death was faster. While I've named a few of the more famous methods, hanging- the most common method of execution- was also incredibly painful and could last upwards of 20-30 minutes depending on how tall and heavy the person was, how thick the rope was, placement of the rope, etc. The public forum in which executions took place were also to deter furture criminals as much as they were for public entertainment.

Public executions are nearly as old as civilization itself- in part as a deterrent, but also as a means of public entertainment. While I'm sure you're aware of gladitorial combat in public arenas, arenas were also popular places for public executions and they drew capacity filling crowds regularly. In medieval Europe through the modern era, the condemned would be marched or carted through the crowds to the designated execution site. People hurled insults and curses at the condemned, poured feces and urine on them, spit on them, etc. Body parts and clothing of executed criminals could be sold by the executioner as good luck charms or for health elixers. Families would make a day out of watching executions. Executioners who routinely allowed the condemned to die too quickly or botched an execution had a very reasonable possibility that the crowd would turn on them and execute them as well. We still do technically have public executions in the sense that a limited number of people are allowed to attend executions, but they're (mostly) not for public entertainment anymore.

I would like to add that this isn't an exhaustive list of all execution methods- just the more common ones in Western Europe. There were merciful sentences, such as slitting someone's throat or being bashed on the head. We've found numerous bog bodies who were routinely killed in this manner (though some of them were outright murdered and dumped in a bog). The guillotine was actually invented as a humane method of execution during the French Revolution. Previously, beheading with a sword was considered a merciful death, such as the death Anne Boylen was given by Henry VIII. Her death was also performed privately in the Tower of London as opposed to the usual public executions on Tower Hill. Beheading itself was rather humane, if the executioner didn't miss his mark and hit the shoulders or the base of the neck. Then it might take a few swings to get the job done (also if someone had a particularly thick or fat neck).

Finally, as we get into the modern era, some people were executed by firing squad. Partially out of efficiency, partially out of how fast it was to do, and partially out of humane reasons. Firing squad was a common execution method for deserters and war crimes in the military from the early 1800's through WWII in some countries.