The Revision of the Geneva Convention, 1906

Extract

In June, 1859, a benevolent Swiss gentleman, M. Henri Dunant, finding himself in the vicinity of Solferino, visited the battlefield, and his book, the Souvenir de Solferino, aroused the profoundest commiseration for the suffering of the forty thousand wounded for whose care the regular sanitary service was utterly inadequate, and for whose succor the unorganized efforts of limitless charity were unavailing. M. Dunant urged on the public attention measures for the amelioration of the condition of the sick and wounded, first through the Genevese Society of Public Utility, of which he was a member, and later through the Swiss Federal Council. The Council eventually called an international conference and after a brief session in Geneva this conference adopted The Geneva Convention of August 22d, 1864.

It was speedily recognized that the rules needed amendment, and should be extended to maritime warfare, and for this purpose the so-called Additional Articles were adopted by a second Conference which met in Geneva in October, 1868. The Additional Articles were never ratified, but nevertheless they repeatedly served as a rule of conduct in war and it should always be borne in mind that a well digested body of rules, such as the Additional Articles, or the Brussels Convention of 1874, although they may never be ratified, yet serve as a basis for humane consideration and for future conferences. No such labor is lost.

The first great example of the relief of suffering in war was that given by our own Sanitary Commission, constituted by the President's order of June, 1861, at the instance of a committee of delegates from various earlier societies who met in Washington in May.