233 years ago, the leaders of the French Revolution who now made up the country's National Convention were in the middle of a continuous 36-hour session debating perhaps their most important question yet: what to do with King Louis XVI. He'd been captured in the summer of 1791 while trying to flee the country and had been imprisoned ever since. Following a six-week trial, he was found guilty of high treason and other crimes on January 15, 1793, with 693 deputies voting yes and not a single one voting no. The next day, as the National Convention spent a day and a half deciding whether to execute him or not, the vote was much closer. In the end, Louis XVI was condemned to death by a majority of just one vote, a tally that would have been an even deadlock had his own cousin not voted for his execution. Five days later, on January 21, that execution took place as Louis XVI was beheaded by guillotine at the Place de la Révolution.
