50 Fun Facts About Red Cross

Which Swiss businessman co-founded the Red Cross after witnessing the aftermath of a battle in 1859?

Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, was travelling to petition Napoleon III about a venture in Algeria when he came upon thousands of wounded after the battle and organised villagers to care for them.

The 1859 battle whose wounded inspired the Red Cross was fought near which Italian town?

Solferino, in Lombardy, saw the French and Sardinian armies beat the Austrians on 24 June 1859 in the last major battle where every army was led in person by its monarch.

What was the title of the 1862 book in which Dunant proposed a neutral relief society for the wounded?

A Memory of Solferino (Un Souvenir de Solférino), printed at Dunant's own expense in 1862, moved lawyer Gustave Moynier to bring its proposal before the Society for Public Welfare.

Which national Red Cross society ran the 1945 'White Buses' rescue of concentration-camp prisoners?

The Swedish Red Cross, under its vice-president Count Folke Bernadotte, negotiated with Himmler to bring some 15,000 prisoners out of German camps in white-painted buses in March and April 1945.

In what year was the International Committee of the Red Cross founded?

1863 saw the Committee of Five first meet in February and an international conference in October whose resolutions called for national relief societies and a common protective sign.

Which renowned Swiss Army general sat on the original Committee of Five with Dunant?

Guillaume-Henri Dufour, who had commanded the federal army in the 1847 Sonderbund War, chaired the committee's founding conference; the other members were Gustave Moynier, Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir.

How many Nobel Peace Prizes did the ICRC win in the 20th century?

Three times: in 1917 and 1944 for its work with prisoners of war in the two world wars, and in 1963, shared with the League of Red Cross Societies, on the movement's centenary.

Which French pacifist shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with the Red Cross co-founder?

Frédéric Passy, founder of the first French peace society, split the 1901 prize with the Red Cross co-founder, whose share sat in a Norwegian bank away from creditors after decades of poverty.

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated on 8 May because it is what?

Henry Dunant's birthday, 8 May 1828, was chosen for the day, first marked in 1948 as World Red Cross Day.

In which Swiss village did Dunant spend his final years and die in 1910?

Heiden, in Appenzell Ausserrhoden, took the ailing founder into its district hospital in 1892; he died there on 30 October 1910, and the building later became a museum in his memory.

Besides the Red Cross, which other organisation did Dunant help found, starting its Geneva chapter in 1852?

The YMCA's branch in Dunant's home city was founded by him in 1852, and he helped organise the 1855 Paris conference that created the YMCA World Alliance.

The Red Cross emblem was created by reversing the colours of which national flag?

Switzerland's flag, a white cross on red, was reversed for the emblem as a compliment to the host country, an origin restated in Article 38 of the first of the 1949 conventions.

Which state first used the Red Crescent in the 1870s?

The Ottoman Empire adopted the red crescent in 1876, declaring that the cross offended its Muslim soldiers; the 1929 convention on the wounded and sick formally recognised the emblem.

Which country used the Red Lion and Sun emblem from 1924 to 1980?

Iran, under the shahs, had the red lion and sun recognised in 1929; the Islamic Republic switched to the red crescent in 1980 while reserving the right to revive the old emblem.

What is the name of the fourth, religiously neutral protection emblem adopted by a vote in 2005?

The Red Crystal, a red frame on white, was adopted by Protocol III in December 2005 so that societies unwilling to use a cross or crescent could join the movement.

Israel's national society, admitted to the movement in 2006, is called what?

Magen David Adom, meaning 'Red Shield of David', was founded in 1930 and was admitted on 22 June 2006 together with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

How many Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 in response to the horrors of World War II?

Four conventions were signed on 12 August 1949, replacing the 1929 treaties and adding, for the first time, a convention protecting civilians in enemy hands.

In which year was the First Geneva Convention adopted?

1864 is when twelve states signed the ten-article Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, on 22 August; its 1949 successor runs to 64 articles.

As of 2024, how many states were party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions?

196 states, every UN member plus the Holy See, Palestine and the Cook Islands, had ratified or acceded by 2024, making the conventions universally accepted.

Which of the four 1949 conventions deals with prisoners of war?

The Third, the prisoner-of-war convention, includes the rule that captives under questioning need give only their name, rank, date of birth and serial number.

Which American nurse, known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield', founded the American Red Cross in 1881?

Clara Barton earned the nickname from surgeon James Dunn after the Battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862, and founded the American Red Cross on 21 May 1881.

Under which president did the American Red Cross founder finally win US backing?

Chester Arthur signed the treaty in March 1882 and the Senate ratified it, after Hayes had rebuffed her and Garfield was assassinated before acting; her pitch stressed peacetime disaster relief.

The 1900 hurricane in which Texas city was the American Red Cross founder's last field operation?

Galveston's September 1900 hurricane, which killed at least 6,000 people, brought the 78-year-old founder into the field for the last time.

In which New York town was the American Red Cross's first local chapter established in 1881?

Dansville, where the founder had gone in the 1870s to recover her health, formed the first local society on 22 August 1881; Rochester and Syracuse chapters followed within weeks.

What kind of disaster in Michigan in 1881 prompted the American Red Cross's first relief effort?

Forest fires that swept Michigan's Thumb region in September 1881, killing nearly 300 people, were the new society's first disaster response, with local chapters collecting money and supplies.

In which year did Congress grant the American Red Cross the charter formalising its relief role?

1905 brought the congressional charter, signed by Theodore Roosevelt, that replaced the 1900 act and charged the society with relief in 'pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities'.

Who was the first medical director of the American Red Cross blood programme in 1941?

Charles Drew, the surgeon who had run the 1940 'Blood for Britain' plasma project, became medical director of the first American Red Cross blood bank in February 1941 and resigned within months over the segregation of donors' blood.

The British Red Cross was formed in 1870 at the outbreak of which war?

The Franco-Prussian War, declared in July 1870, prompted the public meeting in London on 4 August 1870 that founded the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War.

In which year was the League of Red Cross Societies founded in Paris?

1919 saw Henry Davison of the American Red Cross bring five founding societies together in Paris on 5 May to create the League, extending the movement to peacetime disaster relief.

How many National Societies were recognised within the movement as of 2024?

191 National Societies were recognised by 2024, one in almost every state, after decolonisation in the 1960s had brought the biggest jump in numbers.

What name did the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies adopt in 1991?

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies became the name in November 1991; the body had been the League of Red Cross Societies since its founding in Paris and added 'Red Crescent' to its title in 1983.

How many Fundamental Principles were proclaimed at the 1965 International Conference in Vienna?

Seven principles were proclaimed in Vienna in 1965: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality; they were written into the movement's statutes in 1986.

During WWI the ICRC ran an agency that handled roughly how many letters and messages for prisoners of war?

About 20 million letters and messages passed through the International Prisoners-of-War Agency between 1914 and 1918, alongside some 1.9 million parcels, tracked by a card index of about 7 million records.

Which French pacifist writer volunteered at the ICRC's POW agency in 1914 and gave it half his Nobel money?

Romain Rolland, author of 'Jean-Christophe' and the anti-war essay 'Above the Battle', worked at the agency in 1914 and gave half of his 1915 Nobel Literature prize money to it.

Which Norwegian explorer, the ICRC's partner in repatriating WWI prisoners, devised a refugee passport?

Fridtjof Nansen, as League of Nations high commissioner, worked with the ICRC from 1920 to send some 400,000 prisoners home, then devised the 'Nansen passport' for stateless refugees in 1922, earning that year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Which war produced the American Red Cross poster 'The Greatest Mother in the World'?

The First World War produced Alonzo Earl Foringer's 1918 poster of a giant nurse cradling a wounded soldier on a stretcher, which became the society's best-known image.

Who created the American Red Cross War Council on 10 May 1917?

Woodrow Wilson created the War Council on 10 May 1917 by executive order to run the society's wartime effort, with banker Henry P. Davison as its chairman.

Which blood type is usually cited as the 'universal donor' for red-cell transfusions?

O negative red cells carry neither A, B nor Rh D antigens, so they can be given to almost any patient; for plasma the system flips and AB is the universal donor.

Which medal, created by the ICRC in 1912, is the highest international award for nurses?

The Florence Nightingale Medal, instituted by the ICRC in 1912 and first awarded in 1920, goes to nurses and nursing aides for exceptional courage and devotion; it is presented every two years.

Which German royal did Clara Barton help set up military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War?

The Grand Duchess of Baden, Louise, a daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm I, enlisted the American nurse to set up military hospitals in 1870; the nurse went on to organise relief in Strasbourg in 1871.

Which 1889 disaster, killing over 2,200, was an early American Red Cross relief effort?

The Johnstown Flood of 31 May 1889, unleashed when the South Fork Dam failed, killed 2,209 people; the founder and her workers stayed five months, building 'Red Cross hotels' for the homeless.

Which US company has registered the red cross symbol for its medicinal products?

Johnson & Johnson adopted the red cross as a trademark in 1887, and the later federal law protecting the emblem exempted users who predated it, so the company's registration survived.

Which monarch granted the British Red Cross its first royal charter in 1908?

Edward VII granted the royal charter in 1908, becoming the society's patron while Queen Alexandra served as its president; the society had taken the 'British Red Cross Society' name only a few years earlier.

In 1914 the British Red Cross formed the Joint War Committee with which body?

The Order of St John, through St John Ambulance, joined the British Red Cross in the Joint War Committee, which organised Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses and auxiliary hospitals; the two bodies repeated the partnership in 1939.

Which ICRC president of 1928–1944 had earlier sat on the Permanent Court of International Justice?

Max Huber, a Zurich international lawyer, led the ICRC through the Second World War after serving as a judge, and in 1925–27 as president, of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague.

What was the ICRC's original Latin motto?

Inter Arma Caritas, 'amid arms, charity', was the ICRC's motto from its early years; the committee later added a second, Per Humanitatem ad Pacem, 'through humanity to peace'.

Until 1923, only citizens of which city could serve on the International Committee?

Geneva citizens alone made up the committee until 1923, when membership was opened to all Swiss citizens, though the body kept co-opting its own members.

In 1990 the ICRC became the first private organisation granted what by the UN General Assembly?

Observer status was granted to the ICRC by UN General Assembly resolution 45/6 on 16 October 1990, the first time a private organisation received it; the IFRC followed in 1994.

Who became the first woman to head the ICRC when she took office in October 2022?

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, a Swiss diplomat who had headed the UN Development Programme's Europe and Central Asia bureau, succeeded Peter Maurer on 1 October 2022; the first woman member, Renée-Marguerite Cramer, was co-opted in 1918.

Dunant's first book, published in 1858, was an account of the regency of which North African city?

Tunis was the subject of 'Notice sur la Régence de Tunis', written after an 1853 business trip to Algeria, Tunisia and Sicily for a Swiss colonial company operating in Algeria.