Henry Dunant

Biography

Henry Dunant, born Jean-Henri Dunant on May 8, 1828, in Geneva, Switzerland, was a humanitarian, businessman, and social activist. His actions after a pivotal battlefield encounter changed the handling of war casualties and influenced modern international humanitarian law. Growing up in a devout Calvinist family in Geneva, he was educated at the Collège Calvin, which instilled in him a strong sense of religious duty, charity, and moral responsibility. These values stayed with him throughout his career, even as he pursued business ventures in North Africa.

Dunant had business interests in French Algeria and Tunisia. While trying to resolve a land issue in Algeria, he was near Solferino in northern Italy on June 24, 1859. He witnessed one of the bloodiest battles of the Second Italian War of Independence, which left tens of thousands of soldiers from the French, Sardinian, and Austrian armies wounded and dying with little medical care. Shocked by the scene, Dunant set aside his business concerns to organize local civilians, including women from nearby villages, to help the wounded, regardless of nationality. He believed that all suffering soldiers deserved care without discrimination, which became the core principle of the movement he later inspired.

After returning to Geneva, Dunant wrote about the battle in a book titled A Memory of Solferino, published in 1862. He distributed it at his own expense to European leaders, military figures, and philanthropists, advocating for national relief societies to support military medical services during war. The response was quick. In February 1863, Dunant joined a five-member committee in Geneva, which became the basis for what is now the International Committee of the Red Cross. The next year, he attended a diplomatic conference organized by the Swiss government that resulted in the First Geneva Convention, setting legally binding rules for the protection of wounded soldiers and medical staff.

Despite his successes, Dunant's personal finances suffered. A business scandal connected to his Algerian ventures led to bankruptcy in 1867 and forced him to resign from the International Committee of the Red Cross. He spent nearly 30 years in poverty and obscurity, moving between cities in France, England, and Germany before settling in the Swiss village of Heiden. In 1895, Swiss journalist Georg Baumberger found him living quietly there and published an interview that brought his story and contributions back into the spotlight. This renewed attention led to Dunant receiving the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, which he shared with French pacifist Frédéric Passy. He died in Heiden on October 30, 1910, having witnessed the growth of the organization he helped establish into a global force.