The idea to start the Red Cross movement was born in 1859, after a bloody battle between Austrian and French-Sardinian troops at Solferino (Italy) by a young Swiss man, Henry Dunant. Approximately 40 000 men were dead or wounded at the battlefield and there was nobody to nurse the wounded.
Dunant organized local population to bandage the wounds, to feed and comfort the soldiers. When he went back home, he pioneered the idea to establish first aid national societies to take care of wounded soldiers during wartime. His work has steadily expanded ever since and set down the future Geneva conventions.
“Wouldn’t be there an approach, during peacetime, to set up the first aid societies whose goal would be to take care of wounded in wartime, by zealous, devoted and well trained volunteers, for such action?” Dunant asked.
In 1863, a committee of five Genevans led by Henry Dunant came together to establish Red Cross. At its very early start, it was the first aid international committee for wounded. Soon after, this name changed into International committee of Red Cross. The movement’s emblem was a red cross with a white background, an inverted Swiss flag. The next year, 12 governments adopted the First Geneva Convention, a vital step in the history of humanity since this convention envisaged the first aid service for wounded and defined medical services as "neutral" at the battlefield. |
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