Henri Dunant
was born in Geneva, Switzerland, on 8th May, 1828. His father, Jean-Jacques
Dunant, was the superintendent of an orphanage and supervisor of prisons.
At the age of ten Henri was sent to the College de Geneva. After completing
his studies he joined the banking house of Lullin et Sauter.
As a young man he became interested in the work of three outstanding
women, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Florence
Nightingale and Elizabeth Fry. He was
later to write: "The influence of women is an essential factor
in the welfare of humanity, and it will become more valuable as time
proceeds.
Dunant joined the Christian Association of Geneva, a group of young
men who preached religious commitment and tolerance. He became a pacifist
and argued for universal fraternity and the rule of law. In 1851 Dunant
was impressed by the statement issued by Victor
Hugo at the Paris Peace Congress when he predicted that: "A
day will come when there will be no battlefields, but markets opening
to commerce and minds opening to ideas. A day will come when the bullets
and bombs are replaced by votes, by universal suffrage, by the venerable
arbitration of a great supreme senate which will be to Europe what
Parliament is to England, the Diet to Germany, and the Legislative
Assembly to France."
After reading Uncle Tom's Cabin
Dunant also developed a strong hatred of slavery
and in 1853 met its author, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, in Geneva. Dunant also wrote, Notes
on the Regency of Tunisia, a book that condemning slavery
in the USA and Moslem countries.
On 24th June, 1859, Dunant found himself in Northern Italy and witnessed
the Battle of Solferino. Dunant immediately began organizing local
peasants to carry the wounded from the battlefield. They were taken
to local churches where local doctors attempted to help relieve their
suffering.
Over 300,000 men of the Austrian and French armies took part in the
Battle of Solferino and resulted in the deaths of over 41,000 men.
It is estimated another 40,000 men who took part in the battle later
died from wounds, fever and disease.
After the battle, Dunant visited Emperor Napoleon
III in France and persuaded him to issue the following orders
to his soldiers: "Doctors and surgeons attached to the Austrian
armies and captured while attending to the wounded shall be unconditionally
released; those who have been attending to men wounded at the Battle
of Solferino and lying in the hospital at Castiglione shall, at their
request, be permitted to return to Austria."
Dunant decided to write a book about his experiences in Solferino.
He claimed in A Memory of Solferino
(1862) that his intention was to promote the "adoption by all
civilized nations of an international and sacred principle which would
be assured and placed on record by a convention to be concluded between
governments. This would serve as a safeguard for all official and
unofficial persons engaged in nursing war victims."
In the book Dunant warned: "If the new and frightful weapons
of destruction, which are now at the disposal of the nations, seem
destined to abridge the duration of future wars, it appears likely,
on the other hand, that future battles will only become more and more
murderous." He added: "Would it not be possible, in time
of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having
care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly
qualified volunteers?
A Memory of Solferino was well
received by Victor Hugo who wrote to Dunant
that he was " arming humanity and serving the cause of freedom.
I pay the highest tribute to your noble efforts." Saint Marc
Girardin added that he hoped the "book will be widely read, especially
by those who are in favour of warfare, who seek to show its advantages
and who speak of it in glowing terms."
Inspired
by the work of Florence Nightingale
(Crimean
War) and Clara
Barton (American Civil War), Dunant
wanted to establish an organization concerned with the alleviation
of human suffering. In 1862 Dunant sent Gustave
Moynier, president of Geneva Society for Public Welfare, a copy
of A Memory of Solferino. In the
book Dunant stated that his intention was to promote the "adoption
by all civilized nations of an international and sacred principle
which would be assured and placed on record by a convention to be
concluded between governments. This would serve as a safeguard for
all official and unofficial persons engaged in nursing war victims."
Gustave Moynier went to see Dunant and
invited him to a special meeting on 9th February, 1863, of the Geneva
Society for Public Welfare. Dunant told the fourteen people who attended
that he wanted to form an organization that sent volunteer nurses
to the battlefield. He also wanted to improve the methods of transporting
the wounded and the care they received in military hospitals.
After the meeting it was decided to form an International Committee
for Relief to the Wounded. Guillaume Dufour
was to be president while Dunant, Thomas Maunoir,
Gustave Moynier, and Louis
Appia agreed to serve as board members. This eventually became
the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In 1864 the five men organized an international conference of 13 nations
in Geneva to discuss the possibility of making warfare more "humane".
At the end of the conference on 22nd August, 1864, the representatives
signed the Geneva Convention. The agreement
provided for the neutrality of ambulance and military hospitals, the
non-belligerent status of persons who aid the wounded, and sick soldiers
of any nationality, the return of prisoners to their country if they
are incapable of serving, and the adoption of a white flag with a
red cross for use on hospitals, ambulances, and evacuation centres
whose neutrality would be recognized by this symbol.
The campaign then began to persuade the different countries to ratify
the Convention. It was approved by Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy,
the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Switzerland in 1864. They
were followed by Britain (1865), Prussia (1865), Greece (1865), Turkey
(1865), Austria (1866), Portugal (1866), Russia (1867), Persia (1874),
Serbia (1876), Chile (1879), Argentina (1879), Peru (1880), USA (1882),
Bulgaria (1884), Japan (1886), Luxemburg (1888), Venezuela (1894),
South Africa (1896), Uruguay (1900), Guatemala (1903), Mexico (1905),
China (1906), Germany (1906), Brazil (1906), Cuba (1907), Panama (1907)
and Paraguay (1907).
Dunant was a director of one of Geneva's main banks, Credit Genevois.
In 1867 the directors were accused of bad judgement and a conflict
of interest when it was discovered they had been buying and selling
shares in some stone quarries in Algeria. On 17th October, the city's
Commercial Court reached the verdict that the directors' actions were
"grossly beyond the limits that a vigilant and conscientious
board of directors should have permitted." As a result of this
ruling Dunant was forced to resign as secretary of the International
Committee of the Red Cross.
Financially ruined by the failure of the Credit Genevois, Dunant spent
the rest of his life in poverty. However he continued to campaign
for international disarmament and the establishment of a Jewish
homeland. In 1901 was awarded the first Nobel
Prize for Peace. Henri Dunant died in Heiden, Switzerland, on
30th October, 1910.
(1)
Henri Dunant wrote about how he became aware of social problems in
his autobiography.
I gradually
came into contact with misfortune and poverty in gloomy and squalid
streets. In hovels, which at times were more like stables, I saw men
entirely destitute of any worldly belongings and bowed down under
a burden of unspeakable suffering, who knew neither love or kindness.
I then realized for the first time that one man alone is powerless
to act in the face of such misfortune and that no relief, however,
small, can be brought to him unless the whole world joins hands in
the fight against such dire poverty.
(2) Henri Dunant, A Memory of Solferino
(1862)
When the
sun came up on the 25th it disclosed the most dreadful sights imaginable.
Bodies of men and horses covered the battlefield; corpses were strewn
over roads, ditches, ravines, thickets and fields; the approaches
to Solferino were literally thick with dead. The fields were devastated,
wheat and corn lying flat on the ground, fences broken, orchards ruined;
here and there were pools of blood.
The poor wounded men were ghostly pale and exhausted. Some, who had
been the most badly hurt, had a stupefied look. Others were anxious
and excited by nervous strain and shaken by spasmodic trembling. Some,
who had gaping wounds already beginning to show infection, were almost
crazed with suffering. They begged to be put out of their misery;
and writhed with faces distorted in the grip of the death struggle.
Though the army, in its retreat, picked up all the wounded men it
could carry in military wagons and requisitioned carts, how many unfortunate
men were left behind, lying helpless on the naked ground in their
own blood? How many silent tears were shed that miserable night when
all false pride, all human decency even, was forgotten? In some quarters
there was no water, and the thirst was so terrible that officers and
men alike fell to drinking from muddy pools whose water was foul and
filled with curdled blood.
The men's wounds were covered with flies. The tunic, shirt, flesh
and blood formed an indescribable mass, alive with vermin. A number
of the men shuddered to think they were being devoured by these vermin,
which they thought were emerging from their bodies, but which in reality
were the result of the fly-infested atmosphere.
(3)
After the Battle of Solferino, Henri Dunant visited the Emperor Napoleon
III in Italy. As a result of this meeting Napoleon III issued a proclamation
to the Italian forces (1st July, 1859)
Doctors
and surgeons attached to the Austrian armies and captured while attending
to the wounded shall be unconditionally released; those who have been
attending to men wounded at the Battle of Solferino and lying in the
hospital at Castiglione shall, at their request, be permitted to return
to Austria.
(4)
The Geneva Convention, drawn up by Gustave
Moynier and agreed by conference delegates on 26th October,
1863.
(1) In
each country signing the concordat, there shall be a national Committee
charged with remedying, by every means in its power, the inadequacy
of the official sanitary service provided for armies in the field.
This Committee shall organize itself in whatever manner seems to it
to be most useful and expedient.
(2) An unlimited number of sections may be formed to assist the national
Committee. They are necessarily dependent on this Committee, to which
belongs the overall direction.
(3) Each national Committee shall be in communication with the government
of the country, and shall assure itself that it offers of service
will be accepted in case of war.
(4) In peacetime, the Committees and the Sections shall concern themselves
with improvements to be introduced into the military sanitary service,
with the installation of ambulances and hospitals, with means of transport
for the wounded, etc., and will work towards their realization.
(5) The Committees and Sections of the various countries shall meet
in international Congresses to communicate with one another about
their experience, and to agree on measures to be taken to further
the enterprise.
(6) In January of each year, the national Committees shall present
a report of their work during the previous year, and may append to
it whatever information they wish to bring to the attention of the
Committees in other countries. These communications and reports should
be addressed to the Geneva Committee, which will undertake to operate
this exchange.
(7) In the event of war, the Committees of the belligerent nations
shall furnish necessary assistance to their respective armies, and
in particular shall undertake to form and organize corps of volunteer
nurses. They may solicit the support of Committees belonging to neutral
nations.
(8) Volunteer nurses will undertake to serve for a limited time, and
not to interfere in any way in the conduct of the war. They will be
employed according to their wishes in field service or in hospitals.
Of necessity, women will be assigned to the latter.
(9) In all countries, volunteer nurses shall wear an identical and
distinctive uniform or badge. Their persons shall be sacred, and military
leaders shall owe them protection. When a campaign begins, the soldiers
of both armies shall be informed of the existence of this corps, and
of its exclusively charitable character.
(10) The corps of volunteer nurses or helpers will march behind the
armies, to which they will cause neither difficulty nor expense. They
shall have their own means of transport, their own provisions and
supplies, of medications and first aid of all kinds. They shall be
at the disposal of the chiefs of the army, who will use them only
when they feel the need. For the duration of their active service,
they shall be placed under the orders of the military authority, and
subjected to the same discipline as ordinary military nurses.
(5)
Henri Dunant, speech on Florence Nightingale
at the Geneva Convention (August, 1864)
To the
many who pay their homage to Miss Nightingale, though a very humble
person of a small country, Switzerland, I yet want to add my tribute
of praise and admiration. As the founder of the Red Cross and the
originator of the diplomatic Convention of Geneva, I feel emboldened
to pay my homage. To Miss Nightingale I give all the honour of this
humane Convention. It was her work in the Crimea that inspired me
to go to Italy during the war of 1859, to share the horrors of war,
to relieve the helplessness of the unfortunate victims of the great
struggle on June 24, to soothe the physical and moral distress, and
the anguish of so many poor men, who had come from all parts of France
and Austria to fall victims to their duty, far from their native country,
and to water the poetic land of Italy with their blood.
(6)
Henri Dunant, A Memory of Solferino (1862)
If the
new and frightful weapons of destruction, which are now at the disposal
of the nations, seem destined to abridge the duration of future wars,
it appears likely, on the other hand, that future battles will only
become more and more murderous.
Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief
societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime
by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?
Societies of this kind, once formed and their permanent existence
assured, would naturally remain inactive in peacetime. But they would
always be organized and ready for the possibility of war. They would
have not only to secure the goodwill of the authorities of the countries
in which they had been formed, but also, in the case of war, to solicit
from the rulers of the belligerent states authorization and facilities
enabling them to do effective work.
(7)
Victor Hugo, letter to Henri Dunant after
reading a Memory of Solferino (1862)
You are
arming humanity and serving the cause of freedom. I pay the highest
tribute to your noble efforts.
(8)
Saint Marc Girardin, Journal des Debats (1862)
I hope
that this book will be widely read, especially by those who are in
favour of warfare, who seek to show its advantages and who speak of
it in glowing terms.
(9)
Guillaume Dufour, letter to Henri
Dunant after reading his book, A Memory of Solferino
(19th October, 1862)
It is most
important that people read accounts like yours so that they can see
what the glory of the battlefield costs in terms in pain and tears.
We are all too ready to see only the brilliant side of the war, and
to shut our eyes to its sad consequences.
(10)
Max Huber, Executive President of the International Red Cross Committee
(1928)
Henri Dunant
himself saw clearly that the task of the Red Cross would always be
a dual one: succor for the victims of war, and the repudiation of
war itself.
(11)
In his memoirs Henri Dunant explained what he had spent his life
trying to do during his various campaigns.
To inspire
in all a horror of the spirit of vengeance, of hatred and destruction,
is to force backwards the terrible scourge of war, and perhaps even
make it impossible.
History
of the European Union: Integration Process and European Citizenship
