Geneva Convention

The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross

This is the story of how two unknown young men who loathed each other founded the Red Cross, an organisation that has done more for mankind than any other. Why did the crowned heads of sixteen states meet in Geneva in 1864, on the invitation of these virtual nobodies, to sign a world-changing convention? Drawing on confidential papers and private documents, and including a 'day in the life' piece on the Head of Operations, Near East, for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Angela Bennett gives us the full story of the Convention. She reveals the frustrations and complications that nearly destroyed it in the early years, the bitter antagonism between the brilliant administrator Moynier and the flamboyant Dunant, and probes the bank scandal for which Dunant was convicted.