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Battle of Solferino -

The Battle of Solferino took place in present-day Italy on June 24, 1859 between French and Austrian forces. The French prevailed. Later, a man by the name of Henry Dunant toured the battlefield. Shocked by the aftermath of the battle, Dunant decided to write a book about the bloody engagement.

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Henry Dunant (1828–1910) -

Henry Dunant published 'A Memory of Solferino' in 1862. While not a first-hand witness to the battle, Dunant described in detail the suffering of wounded soldiers left on the battlefield.

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'A Memory of Solferino' -

The publication of the book led to the establishment of a Swiss-based group that put together a plan for national relief associations. In 1863, the Geneva-based umbrella association became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dunant was one of its co-founders.

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The Geneva Convention -

Dunant advocated for the establishment of national relief organizations made up of trained volunteers who could offer assistance to war-wounded soldiers. A conference in 1893 led in 1894 to 12 countries signing the original Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field."

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Red cross flag -

Soon afterwards the committee adopted its official emblem—the red cross flag, an inverse of the Swiss flag. It was used as a way of identifying medical personnel on the battlefield.

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Battle of Dybbøl -

The Battle of Dybbøl, fought in Denmark on April 18, 1864, saw the first use of the Red Cross symbol in an armed conflict.

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Red Crescent flag -

Having ratified the Geneva treaty in 1865, the Ottoman Empire began using a red crescent as its emblem. The red crescent flag is still used today by many Islamic countries.

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Red Crystal -

In response to concerns about the red cross and red crescent symbols conveying religious meanings, the ICRC introduced in 1992 a more neutral emblem, the Red Crystal. It's seen as more compatible with Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and philosophy.

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Co-recipient of first Nobel Peace Prize -

In 1867, financial problems led Dunant to resign his position on the committee. When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. Dunant's citation for the award stated: "Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the 19th century would probably have never been undertaken."

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Clara Barton (1821–1912) -

Clara Barton was a former educator who became a hospital nurse in the American Civil War. She helped distribute much-needed supplies to the Union Army on the front lines.

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Swiss revelation -

After the war, Barton ran the Office of Missing Soldiers out of Washington, D.C. She also crisscrossed the nation lecturing about her experiences on the battlefield. In 1869, she traveled to Switzerland and was introduced to the Red Cross and Henry Dunant's book, 'A Memory of Solferino.'

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American Red Cross -

Upon her return to the United States, Barton launched a years-long campaign to get the US to ratify the Geneva Convention of 1864. This it eventually did in 1882, a year after Barton founded the American Red Cross. Pictured is the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., inaugurated in 1917.

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National First Aid Society -

Clara Barton resigned her position as president of the American Red Cross in 1904, not long after this photograph was taken of her at a ceremonial tree planting. She founded the National First Aid Society in 1905 before retiring, and died in 1912.

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First World War -

With the outbreak of the First World War, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges. The committee called on its allies for help in the European theater and beyond. During this period, the American Red Cross experienced exponential growth, from some 100 local chapters in 1914 to more than 3,800 chapters four years later. More than 20,000 nurses alone were recruited to provide support for US and Allied troops as well as civilian refugees. Pictured: ambulance drivers load stretchers onto American Red Cross ambulances at the 1st Line Hospital at the foot of Monte Grappa on the Italian front.

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Food line -

American soldiers stand in line to receive bowls of chocolate and rolls at the American Red Cross canteen in Toulouse, France, in 1917.

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British Red Cross -

The British Red Cross Society was formed in 1870. Following the start of the Great War in 1914, the British Red Cross joined forces with the Order of St John Ambulance to form the Joint War Organization (JWO).

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Dogs of war -

Among the more innovative activities of the Red Cross in the war was the training of bloodhounds and Airedale terriers to search for wounded soldiers on battlefields. Pictured is a British Army officer with one of the dogs at Charing Cross in London en route to France.

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In the trenches -

As well as searching towns, villages, and hospitals where fighting had occurred, noting names of the missing, the injured, and the dead, Red Cross volunteers also served directly in trenches tending to wounded combatants.

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Croix-Rouge française -

Croix-Rouge française was founded in 1864. During the Great War, hundreds of people queued outside the Red Cross headquarters in Paris to volunteer their services.

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Second World War -

During the Second World War, the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision formed the legal basis of the work of the ICRC. As early as 1939 the Red Cross was working in hospitals, care homes, nurseries, ambulance units, and rest stations. In the United States, the shipping of basic medical supplies to Europe prepared by American Red Cross volunteers was well underway.

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Theresienstadt -

The ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps. In October 1943, the Danish Red Cross, the International Red Cross, and the Danish Government pressured the Nazis into allowing them a visit to inspect conditions at the Theresienstadt Ghetto (pictured) in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. The Nazis then attempted to mask the true conditions there by presenting it as a model ghetto. In fact, Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camps, and a "retirement settlement" for elderly and prominent Jews to mislead their communities about the Final Solution.

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Blood donation -

During the Second World War, the Red Cross collected 13.4 million pints of blood from 6.6 million donors. This wartime effort became the model for the civilian blood program that the Red Cross began in 1948. Pictured are nurses of the Canadian Red Cross collecting blood to be shipped to the front in Europe.

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Post-1945 -

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the ICRC embarked on a process of revising and expanding the Geneva Conventions, aiming to avoid a repeat of the horrors of the previous conflict. But in 1950, the Korean War broke out. Once again the Red Cross found itself on the front line.

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Vietnam War -

To meet new challenges and growing needs, the ICRC became a "large" humanitarian organization and had to learn how to deal with security risks and the danger of humanitarian activities becoming increasingly politicized. ICRC members and volunteers were on the ground in Vietnam as that protracted and bloody conflict was played out. Pictured are troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade loading casualties onto a helicopter carrying the emblem of the Red Cross for evacuation to a field hospital.

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Lebanese Civil War -

With the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), the ICRC found itself caught in the middle of a multifaceted armed conflict that eventually claimed an estimated 120,000 fatalities, many of them civilians. The ICRC is still present in the Levant, responding to the continuing needs of displaced people fleeing war and violence across the region and the communities hosting them.

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ICRC under attack -

Since the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work has become more dangerous. Numerous attacks on its delegates, members, and volunteers have taken place across the globe, with scant regard by the perpetrators for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Pictured is the ICRC flag of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the rubble of the ICRC headquarters in Baghdad, which was attacked in October 2003.

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Yemeni Civil War -

The Yemen Red Crescent Society is one of a small group of humanitarian organizations still providing help to civilians on the ground in Yemen as the civil war there continues. Compounding the task facing the ICRC is an ongoing famine and lack of healthcare facilities due to the conflict. Pictured are members of the Yemeni Red Crescent distributing aid to displaced families in the al-Saleh neighborhood of Aden.

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Conflict in Ukraine -

Among its largest deployment in recent years is the ICRC's presence in Ukraine, where the organization is currently working closely with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

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Response to disasters -

Away from conflict zones, the ICRC is on 24/7 readiness to respond to natural disasters and provide aid to victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and such like. Pictured is the Red Cross on the ground in Haiti in 2010.

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International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum -

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva, Switzerland, provides a fascinating overview of the ICRC. Its central theme is: how does humanitarian action affect us all, here and now?

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Educative and informative -

Among the museum's permanent exhibits is 'Restoring Family Links,' which is illustrated with panels showing portraits of children separated from their families during the brutal Rwanda Civil War of 1990–1994.

Sources: (American Red Cross) (The Nobel Prize) (National Women's History Museum) (The Holocaust Explained) (International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum)

See also: The United Nations' greatest achievements

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