Upon request...

... here is the most bloody national anthem (that I know of anyway...). The French national anthem (a.k.a. La Marseillaise) was written during the French Revolution, when heads were rolling all over the place. It was a bloody mess, complete with real hatred for the royals that made the American Colonies' relationship with King George III seem downright friendly by comparison.

Here are the words en français:
Allons enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé.
Contre nous, de la tyrannie, l'étandard sanglant est levé, l'étandard sanglant est levé.
Entendez-vous, dans la compagnes, mugir ces farouches soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras. Egorger vos fils, vos compagnes.
Aux armes citoyens! Formez vos bataillons!
Marchons, marchons! Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons.

Here are the word in English:
Let us go, children of the fatherland, our day of glory has arrived.
Against us stands tyranny, the bloody flag is raised, the bloody flag is raised.
Do you hear in the countryside, the roar of these savage soldiers?
They come right into our arms to cut the throats of your sons, your country.
To arms, citizens! Form up your battalions!
Let us march, let us march! That their impure blood should water our fields.

Good stuff, n'est-ce pas?

Of course, this is the same country that gave us all the guillotine... which reminds me of a small controversy I learned of when I studied in Toulouse. Did the guillotine kill in the first blow, or did it take multiple whacks? One school of thought said that the blades were too dull to completely chop off one's head with only one try... others believed either that the blades were indeed sharp enough or that the weight alone of the blade was enough to do the trick. Lovely.

Dave and I were fortunate enough to visit Paris and the very spot where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads (Place de la Révolution, or as it's known today, Place de la Concorde).