December 1913 - The Year Before The Storm

 

We now enter the last month before the year when the whole face of Europe, and warfare, changed.

The Mona Lisa painting, which has been missing for two years, is recovered in Italy. Its thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, had been a temporary glazier at the Louvre, but the Paris police had forgotten to take his fingerprints, or to look under his bed when they visited him at his humble abode. Vincenzo is acclaimed a hero by the Italians, 'an avenger of the thefts of Napoleon.' The painting is still returned to the Louvre, however, and the thief sent to jail.

In Babylon, the Tower of Babel is discovered at Etemananki.

The year closes with celebrations of the new year.

Not knowing what kind of hell is waiting for them on the other side.

Source:

1913, The Year Before The Storm, by Florian Illies