Origin of the Red Cross movement

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Nineteenth century Europe was a war theatre. These conflicts started with Napoleonic wars (1803-1815), and went on with revolution and conflicts of Italian and Prussian unification (1848-1866). Weapons, industries, revolutions, and colonialism were all working in tandem. Conflicts had become more and more devastating. In 1828, Henry Dunant was born in a business family. Geneva, his birthplace was a city neutral to all European conflicts.

Henry Dunant travels to Solferino

At thirty years of age, Dunant was a college drop-out. He was engaged in his family business, philanthropy, and writing his travel memoirs. In June 1859, Dunant travelled to city of Solferino, to secure business permissions from Napoleon III, then French King. A battle that had ensued the previous day. More than 40,000 dead or wounded soldiers lay in the battle-field, unattended. Moved by this horrific scene, young Dunant helped whatever he could. He also mobilised local support from the city for the war-wounded.

From a Book to a Group

Dunant wrote about his Solferino experience in a book “A memory of Solferino“. Published in 1862, it was a turning point. In this book, he proposed a future a neutral organisation to care for wounded soldiers. A jurist Gustave Moynier, was then President of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. He discussed this book with his collegues and arranged for a meeting with Henry Dunant on 17th February 1863. In this meeting Henry Dunant met with Moynier, the Swiss army general Henri Dufour, and doctors Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir. This meeting of five, is considered as the beginning of Red Cross.

International Committee for Relief to Wounded Soldiers

The group of five, arranged a meeting of 14 foreign envoys in Geneva. This meeting in October 1863, was starting point for international collaboration for care of the wounded. Meanwhile, the group of five deliberated on how to best care for the war wounded. There were few takers for the “voluntary” group Dunant had proposed.

Dunant also proposed that countries adopt an international agreement. This agreement would recognise the status of medical services on the battlefield. This agreement – the original Geneva Convention – was adopted by 12 states 1864. The group derived name and the emblem of the movement from the reversal of the Swiss national flag. Thus, this committee got renamed as “International committee of the Red Cross”

The idea of Red cross had taken root. In 1864 itself, volunteers were taking care of the war wounded in Prussian-Dutch war as a neutral intermediary. Later, the Geneva Convention was expanded to include wounded, sick and shipwrecked in warfare at sea. War victims were no longer left to fend for themselves.

Dunant fades away from Public Memory

While Red Cross was becoming popular, Henry Dunant suffered personal setback. His business failed, and he was bankrupt. Accused of financial fraud, Dunant resigned from International Red Cross committee on 8th September 1867. He left Geneva for ever, and initially moved to Paris. Meanwhile, red-cross and humanitarian movement had gained momentum across Europe. Philanthropists established National Red Cross societies in Austria, Holland, Sweden, Prussia and Spain. Dunant was an honorary member of these societies, and for next few years he engaged himself with them. However, left with no money he survived on charity.

Gustav Myonier, a colleague from the group of five, thwarted Dunant’s efforts to regain his finances. Meanwhile, left with no support, Dunant was living a life of penury. In 1887, he moved to Heiden, a small Swiss village. He found refuge in a local hospice, and faded away from public memory. Seven years later, Georg Baumberger, a journalist re-discovered him. Dunant was old, and frail. Across Europe, nations recognised his efforts for creation of Red Cross movement.

Nobel Peace Prize

First Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, was jointly awarded to Henry Dunant and Frederick Passy. Passy was a French Economist, and founder of many European peace societies. Both Dunant and Passy were too old and frail at that time, and did not receive the prize in person. Dunant continued to live a life of poverty, and donated all his prize money to charity. However, hall of fame is forever his.

Legacy

Dunant died in 1910, Red Cross however lives on. Over last century, almost all countries have their national Red Cross societies. Role of Red Cross has expanded from war, and conflicts to peace time health-care. Many humanists, have contributed to this movement. Most prominent of them is Clara Barton, an American Nurse who established American Red Cross in 1881.

In 1862, Clara Barton was helping the soldiers engaged in American Civil War. Initially she helped with the supplies, and in 1864 she was appointed as the “lady in-charge” of the hospitals near the front-line. She travelled to Europe, and between 1868-1873, worked with the international red-cross. In 1881, she could persuade the American President to set up American Red Cross.

Please watch out for subsequent blogs on Red-cross philately, and evolution of this organisation in the 20th century.