Creating the International Red Cross

Dunant was changed by what he had seen at Solferino. He felt there must be a better way to aid sick and wounded soldiers, creating the Red Cross.

By Eric Niderost Henri Dunant, a 31-year-old Swiss banker, was a more or less inadvertent eyewitness to the Battle of Solferino in June 1859, and its myriad horrors left an indelible impression on him. Like most people of the Victorian Age, Dunant had a romantic notion of war, reinforced by the epic battle paintings common to the period. Before the battle began, he was actually looking forward to the spectacle about to unfold before him like an epic sporting event The ensuing 15-hour slaught