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50 free Red Cross trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Red Cross trivia questions with answers. This Red Cross trivia quiz tells the story of the world's largest humanitarian movement: the Battle of Solferino that horrified Henry Dunant, the Committee of Five in Geneva, the First Geneva Convention of 1864, the four 1949 conventions, and the emblems, from the reversed Swiss flag to the Red Crescent, the Red Lion and Sun and the Red Crystal. It also covers Clara Barton and the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the League that became the IFRC, the ICRC's three Nobel Peace Prizes, the seven Fundamental Principles, World Red Cross Day and the movement's blood services. Easy questions suit first-aid classes and volunteer socials; the harder ones on dates and people will test students of humanitarian history. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Swiss businessman co-founded the Red Cross after witnessing the aftermath of a battle in 1859?
Henry Dunant
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.
Q 02The 1859 battle whose wounded inspired the Red Cross was fought near which Italian town?
Solferino
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.
Q 03What was the title of the 1862 book in which Dunant proposed a neutral relief society for the wounded?
A Memory of Solferino
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.
Q 04Which national Red Cross society ran the 1945 'White Buses' rescue of concentration-camp prisoners?
The Swedish Red Cross
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.
Q 05In what year was the International Committee of the Red Cross founded?
1863
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.
Q 06Which renowned Swiss Army general sat on the original Committee of Five with Dunant?
Guillaume-Henri Dufour
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.
Q 07How many Nobel Peace Prizes did the ICRC win in the 20th century?
Three
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.
Q 08Which French pacifist shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with the Red Cross co-founder?
Frédéric Passy
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.
Q 09World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated on 8 May because it is what?
Henry Dunant's birthday
Henry Dunant's birthday, 8 May 1828, was chosen for the day, first marked in 1948 as World Red Cross Day.
Q 10In which Swiss village did Dunant spend his final years and die in 1910?
Heiden
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.
Q 11Besides the Red Cross, which other organisation did Dunant help found, starting its Geneva chapter in 1852?
The YMCA
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.
Q 12The Red Cross emblem was created by reversing the colours of which national flag?
Switzerland's
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.
Q 13Which state first used the Red Crescent in the 1870s?
The Ottoman Empire
Q 21Which American nurse, known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield', founded the American Red Cross in 1881?
Clara Barton
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.
Q 22Under which president did the American Red Cross founder finally win US backing?
Chester Arthur
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.
Q 23The 1900 hurricane in which Texas city was the American Red Cross founder's last field operation?
Galveston
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.
Q 14Which country used the Red Lion and Sun emblem from 1924 to 1980?
Iran
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.
Q 15What is the name of the fourth, religiously neutral protection emblem adopted by a vote in 2005?
The Red Crystal
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.
Q 16Israel's national society, admitted to the movement in 2006, is called what?
Magen David Adom
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.
Q 17How many Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 in response to the horrors of World War II?
Four
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.
Q 18In which year was the First Geneva Convention adopted?
1864
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.
Q 19As of 2024, how many states were party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions?
196
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.
Q 20Which of the four 1949 conventions deals with prisoners of war?
The Third
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.
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.
Q 24In which New York town was the American Red Cross's first local chapter established in 1881?
Dansville
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.
Q 25What kind of disaster in Michigan in 1881 prompted the American Red Cross's first relief effort?
Forest fires
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.
Q 26In which year did Congress grant the American Red Cross the charter formalising its relief role?
1905
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'.
Q 27Who was the first medical director of the American Red Cross blood programme in 1941?
Charles Drew
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.
Q 28The British Red Cross was formed in 1870 at the outbreak of which war?
The Franco-Prussian 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.
Q 29In which year was the League of Red Cross Societies founded in Paris?
1919
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.
Q 30How many National Societies were recognised within the movement as of 2024?
191
191 National Societies were recognised by 2024, one in almost every state, after decolonisation in the 1960s had brought the biggest jump in numbers.