![]() In 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.Īlso in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. It was the first Red Crescent society of its kind and one of the most important charity organizations in the Muslim world. The Turkish Red Crescent organization was founded in the Ottoman Empire in 1868, partly in response to the experience of the Crimean War (1853-1856), in which disease overshadowed battle as the main cause of death and suffering among Turkish soldiers. The Ottoman government ratified this treaty on 5 July 1865. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. ĭirectly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were: Austrian Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, French Empire, Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, Kingdom of Spain, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded".įrom 26 to 29 October 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The members of this committee, which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five", aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss army general of great renown. ![]() As a result of this initial discussion, the society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. In 1863, Gustave Moynier, a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, received a copy of Dunant's book and introduced it for discussion at a meeting of that society. He took point in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance with the local villagers to aid without discrimination. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. He arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June after the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. A devout Calvinist, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet then-French emperor Napoleon III in June 1859 with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, which at that time was occupied by France. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, there were no organized or well-established army nursing systems for casualties, nor safe or protected institutions, to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. Henry Dunant, author of A Memory of Solferino
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