Firing Squad - History's Most BRUTAL Execution Method?
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- čas přidán 17. 06. 2023
- Throughout the centuries and History, there have been many execution methods used. But one of the most common was the firing squad, in which a detachment of soldiers would be used to shoot a victim or a condemned person. Firing squads would be made up of different numbers, and often being shot by a firing squad did go wrong. Officers would have to use a coup de grace to end the suffering, and the executions would usually take place in pits or in firing ranges.
Some victims of the firing squad would be shot in the back and this was considered shameful, but it was an execution method heavily linked to the military and the army. Soldiers who were executed in this way considered being shot by a firing squad as noble and as a much more honourable way to go rather than the gallows.
Join us today as we look at, 'Firing Squad - History's Most BRUTAL Execution Method?'
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As far as execution methods are concerned this is not brutal, it's fast.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other. It can be both. It can definitely be brutal.
Unless it take 7 shots to get it done.
🤔 Really ?. Have you tried it then !..............
That’s the chiefest advantage of shooting one’s *prey.*
There are some videos of WW2 where the victim is still moving and trying to call out after being shot and has to get a bullet in the head to finish him off. Not "instant" at all!
Must be quite harrowing to wait for the firing, but it still sounds FAR less gruesome than all those other execution methods of old, with an intent to torture..
Not even close to being the most brutal. If done correctly it's probably one of the most painless ways to go.
🤔 Oh really ?.maybe you yourself could put this theory to the test, and then report back to us, your findings later !........
The obvious question is: how do you know, chum?
When you're shot in the heart, your blood pressure drops instantly to almost 0/0. @@rossbrown6641 It's like being punched in the chin by a heavyweight boxer. You're out cold within moments.
No, This is not brutal compared to all of that burning, cooking, chopping or breaking on the wheel that was done in the early times for the sake of sadism!
Wouldn't a morphine overdose be the most painless way to be executed
Carbon dioxide poisoning may match it. When you hear about those backpackers who burn up all their oxygen in a tightly sealed tent, they always mention how it starts with drowsiness, then loss of consciousness followed by death.
A high altitude chamber would be the way to go. Hypoxia, lack of oxygen, causes euphoria you feel wonderful, no problems at all, then you pass out.....
Yes, or any other one of the many suitable drugs. I guess the US method of lethal injection is deliberately designed to be extremely painful, there's no other reason for the overly complicated system of three different chemicals when there are single drug solutions that are guaranteed to be painless as there are plenty of people who have survived near-lethal opiate overdoses and they don't describe it as painful.
Of course another theory could be they want the stupid masses to believe killing a person with an injection is difficult and can't happen accidentally so they wouldn't lose their trust in the health care.
@@just-dlCarbon monoxide is better because it doesn't cause a gag reaction like carbon dioxide does. Many people have died in their sleep when a stove died out and the embers produced lots of CO.
@@ky7299 haven’t heard of a gag reflex with CO2. That would be “safer” in the sense of startling someone, hopefully to the point of self-rescue. But, drifting off to sleep isn’t a bad way to go.
As a young boy I lived in the Tower of London where my father was a Yeoman Warder, I lived in the Casemates and about 200 yards from the range used to execute Carl Lody during the Second World War. In my time at the tower (The last three Arrow slits in the outer wall during the last scene on this were our house back window, two were wardrobe cupboards and one was my fathers booze cabinet.
That's cool
SWEEET
@@BattShytKuhraezy Yeah interesting to some people!!! I went on to complete 25 years man and boy in the Army serving in three conflicts and becoming a right bastard so such sympathetic comments (I’m sure they were meant sarcastically) rolls off me like a well greased milk bottle
Having to listen to Celine Dion mp3 file on loop for 12 hours i would think this would be the most barbaric death imaginable.
Thanks. I've just had my breakfast.
In my opinion, the most "brutal" execution methods are those that are extremely painful while delaying death. Being shot in the heart, brain or spine should result in an extremely fast death. What happens after death does not matter. For example, as "brutal" as we might think beheading to be because of the image of a head falling off, if it is done in one swift blow then very little suffering should occur. Execution by boiling as done by King Henry VIII is definitely brutal.
Firing squad - instantaneous for the condemned but brutal for the witnesses. Execution by cannon is even more brutal because the condemned's body explodes into tiny pieces.
The "idea" or working model of the firing squad is to have enough people firing to literally "explode" the heart and surrounding blood vessels. If done "correctly" there should be almost nothing left of the heart. Therefore, it is essential that somebody put a target on that exact spot before the order is given. Everyone should fire at once.
Obviously, such an assault would be painful. But only briefly. The brain should shift to unconsciousness almost immediately after the heart explodes. If it is done incorrectly, obviously it will be worse for the target. They key is to make sure everyone knows what they are doing.
But it's always like that, isn't it?
Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Retired surgeon
This is far, far, far from the most brutal.... in contrast to some methods it would seem kind.
The most brutal method of execution was the ancient 'brazen bull' where the victim was shut up inside a huge metal bull and a fire was lit underneath. The victim would be slowly roasted alive...
No. The most brutal was crucifixion. The only Saviour took it willingly for all who would believe he rose 3 days later and be born again would inherit His kingdom.
Anyone know what execution is being conducted in the final screen? The one with 7 men kneeling and Napoleonic-era(?) soldiers making up the firing squad and, seemingly, the officer in charge kneeling next to the condemned for some reason.
It looks like there's maybe tourists watching, so, presumably it's for show, but I wonder if it's a recreation of real events.
Calling a firing squad a brutal method of execution implies a severe lack of imagination.
HOW THE FUCK IS FIRING SQUAD BRUTAL?!!!
Only that being shot by so many bullets is going to tear you to pieces, not that you would know.
🤫🤔 Alright, if you believe that theory. Are you willing then to put this to the test on you ?..I think probably not !..
@@RonSeymour1 if you know, why wouldn’t he?
It’s not. It’s click bait titling. Plus I think this guy’s world view has no room for capital punishment. So any form of execution is “brutal.”
This is not brutality, this is mercy!
One thing is interesting. There are pictures from Finland and year 1918. I haven't see those kind of pictures shown by foreigners. Only in our own historybooks.
Crucificion is by far one of the cruelest methods of execution. It’s painful, drawn out and suffocated the victim in his own blood.
I live in the South and have lived in Oklahoma. I approve of the firing squad with at least one officer available to render the shot to the head to alleviate suffering. Suffering need not last long and you could sedate or anesthetized the convicted prior to the gunfire with a Physician able to pronounce death and reduce the final need for the bullet to the head. Living in a country that executes, over the years I have heard of botched hangings, botched gas chamber attempts, botched electric chair executions and even ones which use the injection of the two chemical agents to stop the heart. The injection method seems to be the most humane to me as the party is first injected with a solution that produces loss of consciousness. I am a respecter of life and I do not hunt nor fish because I do not enjoy killing. However, some crimes are so horrible that I believe the death penalty is warranted. They say the death penalty has no deterrence effect, but I believe them wrong as it is logically clear that 'no death penalty' definitely has less deterrence to those who fear death. In the USA, I am sure that the innocent have on occasion been found guilty of crimes and spent long years in prison and some have been executed who were innocent. That is a shame. I one point I was a criminal defense attorney, and I do believe that the number of findings required in a jury trial (i.e. crime particularly heinous, gruesome, etc. , finding of premeditation which is usually concluded by the criminal having a plan, lack of remorse, etc.) Some people are so dang mean, evil, heartless and uncaring and their actions so dreadful, that execution is really necessary for or as society's retribution. It is like pornography, not easy to be defined, but when you actually encounter a situation where the death penalty is required - YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT. I do not view the death penalty as being a time of joy or celebration for any reason but I also believe it is required. As Judges say...."and my God have Mercy on your soul.' The death penalty doesn't decide your souls outcome, of which no Court has jurisdiction, but Courts and government DO have jurisdiction over the 'body' of a person, otherwise compelling soldiers by draft to war would be illegal and it is not, nor is imprisonment for life.
Very well said.
@@MichaelTheophilus906 answer 1) Philosophical. we should rise above the level of the criminal, as a society. 2) political. some people might rightly question the wisdom of allowing the government to intentionally inflict suffering in this situation...because, may they can do so in another situation; and, 3) economic. a dozen bullets costs under $10. keeping them around to suffer costs a lot more.
"I am a respecter of life..... However, some crimes are so horrible that I believe the death penalty is warranted." Blatant contradiction.
"Some have been executed who were innocent. That is a shame." Is that all, just a shame??
Lethal injection is not a fast and painless method. There have been many botched executions by this method, sometimes taking more than 15 minutes for the condemned to die.
Beheading was common, and brutal. Worse than a firing squad.
Especially if it took more than 1 stroke of the axe or sword.
@Diogenes-ty9yy like in the Middle East, where they use ceremonial knives that are dull as hell!
Brutal !!! We should be doing this today!!!
It might just be possible to fool onlookers that all of the rifles have complete live rounds when fired but the individual shooter would know immediately they fired if they had a blank or not, the recoil, or lack of it in a blank discharge would be a dead give-away.
In (I think) Thailand, the firing is done by an automated gun rather than manually so there is no squad as such just a gun trained on the spot where the victim stands and operated by a button
Who pushes the button?
The condemned was tied to a cross, blind folded, facing away, shot in the back while hanging by wrists.
@@escapedfromnewyorkthis what do for treason when you betrayed country my opinion
I've heard a comment from Utah that the man putting away the 30-30 rifles could tell which one was the blank because the friction of the bullet heats the steel of the barrel but the blank does not. So the rifle with the cool barrel was the one which had had the blank.
The one with the blank will have almost no recoil.
Recoil is a better way. If you don't want to know, you probability don't try too hard to figure it out. You probably have to volunteer.
Drawer and quarter is the worst.
After watching the end scene in Braveheart where William Wallace gets that execution I would agree .
I'm an old machinist. I've often wondered why couldn't they just fabricate a simple apparatus that had a chamber for one single, or triple rounds aimed point blank from inches away, at the bound person's heart or brain, for that matter, and set a timer to fire it? Instant death for the condemned. Never understood why all the gruesome, faulty methods were used.
Hung, drawn, and quartered was one of the most brutal forms of execution. Firing squad, quick and merciful if done correctly.
In the Soviet Union, Russia until 1996, and Belarus to this day, they had a single executioner who fired a single shot into the back of the head (preferably through the brainstem) with a pistol/revolver. It's more reliable and humane, but can be hard on the executioner. To mitigate this, he had to get familiar with the case materials first, which included graphic photos of the victims, so that he doesn't feel any guilt.
The blank thing is a myth/over exaggerated. You'd instantly be able to tell the difference between a live round and a blank they fell very different
🤔 Oh really?. And you yourself have been experimenting with this theory have you ?......
@@alancrisp1582 Yes actually, I fire blanks out of my rifles for filmmaking purposes
@@thecommunistdoggo1008 Fair enough I believe you. Interesting.......
@@alancrisp1582 Yeah they're different. I also shoot blanks out of my mosin now and then to feck eith my buddies who never shot a gun so they "miss" every shot
No recoil with a blank.
The accusation that "the majority of UK soldiers shot at dawn in WW1 had PTSD" is simply not true. All UK soldiers would have gone through a court marshal process to receive this sentence, the sentence of which which had to be confirmed at a very high level of command. Most capital sentences were not carried out. Many of the executions were for crimes for which the normal sentence would have been death such as murder or rape of for serious military crimes such as assisting the enemy or espionage. It was simply because the crime had been carried out in the field that shooting rather than hanging was done. Just remember how many men were in the field at the time.. the percentage of criminals was surprisingly low. Unlike the other major powers in France at the time, the British did not suffer many incidents of mutiny in the field. Conditions at the time were dreadful at times, but the British and Commonwealth soldiers were generally well looked after and were content at the time they were being well treated. The most executed (about 300) were for desertion in the face of the enemy, which has always been a capital offence.
Much of the backlash against WW1 came about through political scapegoating by Lloyd George against Haig during and after the war for reasons which had nothing to do with the war. Most of the current anti WW1 agenda was from the 1960s created by Joan Littlewood in "Oh what a lovely war" and other agents with left wing, political agendas. Few of the WW1 veterans whom I knew ever thought they were badly treated, and none had any sympathy with those executed.
The excuse that "they did not understand PTSD then" is again simply not true. This has been known about in military medicine for ever. Many men in WW1 were taken out of the line for stress, treated sympathetically and then re-assigned. There has always been mitigating circumstances dividing genuine stress from malingering and cowardice. Cowardice is unacceptable in war.. you need to trust those around you to cooperate. A coward who suddenly decides not to participate and betray his comrades is a menace. There are almost no examples of individuals being shot for an isolated incident, there is always an underlying pattern of behaviour which led to the capital sentence being carried out.
Context is everything when considering culpability, and is the job of those who were there at the time and were familiar with the conditions to decide. We are simply not qualified to judge at this distance of time and those who do are demonstrating supreme arrogance. My view is that pardoning individuals for cowardice is an insult to all those who lived and died through the war and did not display such a lack of honesty.
personally i would fear burning at the stake the most (ok, i am too afraid to think of what would be worse, but no doubt there are many)
You would suffocate before becoming BBQ meat.
@@TheSegadroidnice!
Watching from Greece.hi everybody.
Very interesting video.
Brutal stuff
PS: most of those pictures, which are Finlsnd are not from ww1. These photos are from same kind of battle, what they have in Spain in the 30's
What?!? How can a firing squad be a "brutal" way of execution? A couple high speed bullets through the brain is super fast, and you're dead before you know what hit you. I firmly believe we should be using it today to execute instead of paying for someone's life sentence in a prison. Prisons are overcrowded, and us taxpayers a footing the bill.
Well, we know what should happen to you!
The Gibbet would be far worse than a firing squad.
I'm just glad the
🏰 *TOWER OF LONDON* 🏰
Got a mention 😄
Does anyone remember
Gary Gillmore ?? The last person in America to die before a firing squad .
If I remember correctly I believe it was 1978 .
His last words were
" ,LETS GET IT ON " !!!!!!!
Gary Gilmore was not the last person executed by firing squad. In 2010, Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed in Utah by firing squad.
@@gandanek well the last one I remember
Probably the least painful or brutal way to die - over in an instant
Electrocution is brutal.
I don't see this as "brutal," like burning at the stake, or Hanged, Drawn, And Quartering was.
Present, arms. Ready. Aim. Fire. Order, Arms. *Whatever problem the convicted was causing for you, is now solved.* It only becomes Brutal when you use the condemned man's own friends, to carry out the execution. You've ate with the condemned, slept with him, fought alongside him, and now you're under orders to abandon all of that, and kill him.
And, in the situation you describe it’s more brutal to the firing squad than the condemned man.
Humans are a special species ☠️
You need to read your history. Suggest you read a few books by ex Gurkha Officer Gordon Corrigan on WW1 and2. In WW1 the British army was over a million men strong; 200 were executed for various offences including rape and murder a few after repeated warning for cowardess. At that time execution, capital punishment was an approved UK method of dealing with criminals who took life, the army was no different
One big argument against using firing squads is that it is a messy form of execution and a factor in its end of use to less messy ones like drugs. Some have been pushing for the use of firing squads as other methods, including using drugs, have presented issues from difficulties in obtaining drugs as suppliers won't allow their sale or use for executions and ethical issues for doctors and other medical personal to prepare for injections.
How many times do we hear of hundreds of kilos of drugs being recovered during raids? Those drugs could be used for execution - put the condemned into a sealed room and fill the air with cocaine or heroin or fentanyl or whatever. Add a fan to keep the drugs in the air. After a while, the condemned person ODs.
@@ralphm6901 fentanyl do it real quick!
I don’t think anyone should have ever been executed for cowardice, that’s a “punishment does not fit the crime” sort of situation in my mind. That being said this sounds a lot less risky than lethal injection, and cheaper too.
I could think of worse ways to die.
By far the best form of execution.
Would be my favourite one if I could choose.
Utah still has firing squad as capital punishment 😳
“… powder and lead…”
6:29 is one from a series of images of German paratroopers conducting the massacre of civilians, at Kondomari, Crete, 1941.
I think a proper firing squad is pretty merciful. I believe one of the most brutal forms of execution was when you were tied to a tree, they cut a slit in your belly and pulled out some of your intestine, and then let the dogs continue to pull at it and eat. Depending how many dogs and how hungry they were, death could take days.
The Guillotine is still the best, It has never had a failure, first time every time.
Should bring it back for murderers and drug dealers and peadophiles in the Uk.
For those who kill the body, kill the mind and kill the soul. I won’t disagree with you….
then you lose all your pakis.
Just out of curiosity which methods of execution are not brutal when they go wrong?
That's exactly why the guillotine was invented, it can't go wrong and is relatively painless. The brain dies of oxygen starvation, i.e. hypoxia.
Thailand used to shoot the condemned in the back; blindfolded, tied to a cross, with their hands holding flowers. Cultural-religious reasons I believe.
Why not fentynal OD? Seems like a painless way to go.
🤔 I see,would you mind trying this out for us first, then coming back and telling us if you were right ?..
Or a knee on the neck.
Did I notice a rebranding?
It's not a 'coup de gra' as in the commentary 3:43, it's a coup de grace, to sound like "coo de grass"
I should imagine the bullets to be one of the best ways to die. Hung, drawn, and quartered could be the worst.
Needs to be used on politicians who have violated their oath!!
@mafirearmsafety I can 💭 of a few off the top of my head who are candidates worthy of the firing squad: Donald Trump, his idiot sons, and family members (with the exception of his niece Mary Trump), his minions holding the 🇺🇸 government hostage JUST to name few, wouldn’t you agree?
Trump!
Trump!!!!!!!
They do that in China.
You know when you have a blank
The firing squad was used during WW2 to execute some German soldiers caught behind Allied lines.
They were posing as Allied soldiers.
During the Battle Of The Bulge !!
Those German war criminals found guilty at the Nuremberg wr crimes trials, found guilty, were denied death by firing squad, and were all hung. These hangings were all botched intentionaly, leaving the condemed to slowly die of strangulation.
Good, his name was Woods
My thought was that a badly done hanging would be worse than being shot. Strangulation.
Factually incorrect. Those executed by Pierrepoint were quick and painless.
Yeah, jolly hockey sticks!
My opinion is that the most brutal form of execution is TV advertising Incredebly slow and painful !
Over ANY execution method, including often-botched 'merciful' lethal injection, I'd take a firing squad over any of them. As long as they don't intentionally miss vital organs, which I've heard was common with the most hated of condemned, so death isn't instantaneous.
No, not by a LONG shot.
Firing squad is one of the most humane methods of execution.
And if suppressors are used and a good amount of sawdust, makes it better for the witnesses.
Actually, if I had to be executed I would choose firing squad or guillotine. Both are quick, painless, and fatal as compared to most other methods.
The Raging bull is the worst!
What language is this in?
Not brutal. Messy, yes. Even if you miss the heart, you're going to cause massive blood loss and shock trauma. Takes a few seconds before the pain sets in.
Dignified? You're still dead.
This is how I would prefer to die is someone is going to kill me.
If humans want to butcher each other, fine it's whatever. But leave the elephants out of it 😒
Who says?
I would choose old age.
My knees would disagree with you.
@@jimcapps5330 can't be worse then mine. I still go for old age.
If was to be shot I would be shot running away not just standing there aaiting
Firing squad would be my choice if it was me being executed.
Who ever is reading the script needs to learn what punctuation means.
It's a robot.
Being shot in the heart is going to kill you for sure but until the brain uses up all the oxygen it needs, you may live for a short while. Or do you lose consciousness immediately?
The firing squad also includes a bullet to the back of head.
Assuming the heart is hit - yes, the brain is still alive, but the sudden drop in blood pressure (big hole in heart..) will cause almost-instant unconsiousness, until death shortly after.
John Lennon was hit in the heart by two bullets and ten minutes later he was still barely conscious in the police car on the way to hospital. Being shot is not instant death.
Short drop hanging.
Being blown was horrific but way more effective.
🤔 Oh really?. And you have tried this yourself ?..I am guessing not !.............😮
No confirmation shot required. Besides…finding the head…..
Sounds humane to me !
I think death by a thousand cuts is far more brutal .
a 5 min lesson in history teaches you there are far more brutal execution methods than a firing squad????
Cross is most brutal.
Ultimately, there really is no pleasant way to kill someone, much as people keep trying to find one.
There is one: hypoxia. It feels like getting drunk or stoned. There is a documentary on CZcams about that and about why it was rejected as a method of execution in the US to replace lethal injections.
More efficient, more economical and more humane.
Australia was the only country who did not shoot their armed forces at dawn
This isn't brutal. Medieval times executions were brutal.
Best method out there. Bring it back. Gillotine works well
Id argue its no more brutal than the guillotine, which was invented on the sole basis of it being an instant death.
Of course, its been put forth that the human brain can survive up to seven seconds after being sepetated from the heart which, for those seven seconds of fleeting conciousness would be the most agonizing pain a human could endure what with all the nerves in your body being sliced off.
So yeah, maybe firing squad isnt too bad?
A few decades ago a kid killed a policeman and sped his car away to escape. He was followed by a hail of bullets. One severed his spinal cord in the neck. There was insufficient damage to the rest of his neck and he survived. He spent the rest of his life in an iron lung. He said it was like his body disappeared in an instant and his head was floating.
In the first minute of the video the title is debunked by examples cited by the author. Click, click?
Well that's better than hanging and head cut ,,,some where cooked inside the bronze bull 🐂,,,,some are cut into pieces,,,,
Meeno Peluce
The voice intonation of the narrator is terrible sounding, I lose interest in watching this video?
anglo saxon colonial civilization they call their criminal record history LOL
That's not brutal.
How about flaying?
✨🏴✨🧐✨🤯✨.