system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: There was no good reason for Louis XVI of France to be guillotined

I've recently been reading several histories of the French Revolution, and I can't help but feel some sympathy for Louis XVI. Given the millions of less fortune people who have since met much more unjust fates, it's hard to justify spending too much time thinking about this...But, given that Louis had never explicitly opposed the revolution, had already abdicated the throne in August 1793, and that he hadn't ever really done anything (that I can tell) illegal under the constitution of 1791, it seems strange that the constitutional convention voted so unanimously to execute him, especially when prominent revolutionaries like Robespierre were adamantly opposed to capital punishment. Wouldn't it have granted more legitimacy to the revolution with the other European powers, and to the republic in general, if they instead punished him with exile or imprisonment, or by making him purely a figurehead? I'm just not seeing what the upside was of executing him, other than perhaps setting an example for future monarchs to relinquish power more quickly when pressured.
gpt
One of the big reasons existing rulers tend to be killed when effecting a regime change is to remove a figurehead for rebellion to rally around.  Nicholas II and his entire family were executed for a similar reason - to prevent external or internal forces mounting rebellion in the name of a live member of the previous regime with a “right” to power.