Launching of the Programme of Commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – 125 Years at Work

Abstract

In a period of 20 months, from November 1862 to August 1864, an almost unnoticed revolution took place, the result of the feelings aroused in various European countries by the publication of a small book, entitledA Memory of Solferino. Its author, the young Swiss businessman Jean-Henry Dunant, used the sympathy it generated to promote the idea that wounded soldiers should, since they are no longer capable of fighting, cease to be treated as enemies. He wanted nations to organize groups of volunteers who, with the full backing of their respective governments, would stand ready and able to render assistance to wounded and sick members of armies in the field, whether friend or foe.