When he returned, he wrote describing the tragic aftermath of the battle of Solferino, and proposed a plan for the creation of societies of volunteers for relief work among all nations. This memoir was published in 1862 and stirred all Europe. Gustave Moynier, president of the Geneva Society for the Public Good, offered to form a committee to carry out what Dunant had called for. Dunant accepted this offer, and invited three men from among the leading citizens of Switzerland to join it. A committee was formed, called "the International Committee of Five" — the origin of the present International Red Cross Committee.
Bismarck was then drawing the plans for the series of wars that swept over Europe at that time. When Dunant sensed the approaching danger, he went forward and resolved to widen the scope of his project, and the "Committee of Five" summoned delegates from all the powers to meet in the city of Geneva. That was an act of extreme boldness — yet Dunant lost no time in setting out, in 1863, to tour all the capitals of Europe, and before three months had passed he had succeeded in persuading sixteen states to send their delegates. They met in the month of October of that year in Geneva, and agreement was reached upon the principles on which the International Red Cross Society rests.
Among the things Dunant asked was this: that a soldier, once fallen wounded in battle, should remain safe from all harm so long as he did not resist; that whoever found him, enemy or friend, should aid him; that all physicians volunteering for medical service should be secure from any attack; that no physician and no nurse should carry arms; and that all those attending to the service of the wounded should wear distinguishing badges upon their arms.
The Swiss flag, its colors reversed, was adopted as an international emblem in recognition of Switzerland's merit. Such is the origin of the device of the red cross on a white ground, and such was the birth of the greatest organized humanitarian work on the fields of battle.
Ten months later the Geneva Convention was signed at an official meeting convened by the government of Switzerland, and the number of states that signed that convention reached twelve. As for America, she did not sign it
until eighteen years afterwards... And Dunant went on struggling for the fulfillment of his mission until he succeeded in spreading his cause in every land...
But another idea began to ferment in Dunant's mind after he had accomplished the founding of Red Cross societies in all the civilized nations of the world: namely, that the work of the Red Cross should not be confined to time of war alone, but should embrace all the calamities and disasters that occur in time of peace as well — such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and
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