Editing First Geneva Convention (section)

==History==
[[File:Henry Dunant-young.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|[[Henry Dunant]], co-founder of the [[Red Cross]]]]

The 1864 Geneva Convention was instituted during a critical period in European politics and the military. The [[American Civil War]] had been raging elsewhere since 1861, and would ultimately claim between 750,000 and 900,000 lives. Between the fall of [[Napoleon]] at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815 and the rise of [[Napoleon III|his nephew]] in the [[Second Italian War of Independence|Italian campaign of 1859]], the powers had maintained peace in western Europe.<ref name=davis>{{Citation | last = Davis | first = George B. | title = The Geneva Convention of 1906 | journal = The American Journal of International Law | year = 1907 | volume = 1 | issue = 2 | pages = 409–417 | doi = 10.2307/2186169 | jstor = 2186169 | s2cid = 146904419 }}</ref> 

Yet, with the 1853–1856 [[Crimean War|conflict in the Crimea]], war had returned to Europe, and while those troubles were "in a distant and inaccessible region" northern Italy was "so accessible from all parts of western Europe that it instantly filled with curious observers;" while the bloodshed was not excessive the sight of it was unfamiliar and shocking.<ref name=davis/> Despite its intent of ameliorating the ravages of war, the inception of the 1864 Geneva Convention inaugurated "a renewal of military activity on a large scale, to which the people of western Europe…had not been accustomed since the first Napoleon had been eliminated."<ref name=davis/>

The movement for an international set of laws governing the treatment and care for the wounded and [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] began when relief activist [[Henry Dunant]] witnessed the [[Battle of Solferino]] in 1859, fought between French-[[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Piedmontese]] and [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] armies in Northern Italy.<ref>{{Citation | last = Baxter | first = Richard | title = Human Rights in War | journal = Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | year = 1977 | volume = 31 | issue = 2 | page= 5| doi = 10.2307/3822833 | jstor = 3822833 }}</ref> The subsequent suffering of 40,000 wounded soldiers left on the field due to lack of facilities, personnel, and truces to give them medical aid moved Dunant into action.<ref name="Bennettx"/> Upon return to [[Geneva]], Dunant published his account ''Un Souvenir de Solferino''.<ref>See {{Citation  |last=Dunant |first=Henri  |year=1862 |title= Un Souvenir de Solferino |publisher= Jules Fick  |place= Geneve |edition = 1 |url= https://archive.org/stream/unsouvenirdesol00dunagoog#page/n7/mode/2up }}</ref> He urged the calling together of an international conference and soon co-founded with the Swiss lawyer [[Gustave Moynier]], the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863.<ref>{{Citation | last = Sperry | first = C.S. | title = The Revision of the Geneva Convention, 1906 | journal = Proceedings of the American Political Science Association | year = 1906 |volume = 3 | pages = 33–57 | doi=10.2307/3038537| jstor = 3038537 }}</ref><ref name="IRRC"/>

[[Image:signing of the first geneva convention.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The signing of the first-ever Geneva Convention by some of the major European powers in 1864]]

The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC), while recognising that it is "primarily the duty and responsibility of a nation to safeguard the health and physical well-being of its people", knew there would always, especially in times of war, be a "need for voluntary agencies to supplement…the official agencies charged with these responsibilities in every country."<ref>{{Citation | last = Anderson | first = Chandler P. | title = The International Red Cross Organization | journal = The American Journal of International Law | year = 1920 |volume = 14 | issue = 1 | pages = 210–214 | doi=10.2307/2187844| jstor = 2187844 | s2cid = 146924480 }}</ref> To ensure that its mission was widely accepted, it required a body of rules to govern its activities and those of the involved belligerent parties.

Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries and the United States, Brazil, and Mexico to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. The meeting was presided over by General [[Guillaume Henri Dufour]]. The conference occurred in the Alabama room at Geneva's Hotel de Ville (city hall) on 22 August 1864.<ref name="Alabama">{{cite web|url=https://www.geneve.com/en/attractions/town-hall-alabama-room|title=Town Hall - Alabama Room|publisher=Geneva Tourism|access-date=22 November 2021|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125212003/https://www.geneve.com/en/attractions/town-hall-alabama-room|url-status=dead}}</ref> The conference adopted the first [[Geneva Conventions|Geneva Convention]] "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states signed the convention:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/States.xsp?xp_viewStates=XPages_NORMStatesParties&xp_treatySelected=120 |title=Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. Geneva, 22 August 1864 |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC |location=Geneva, Switzerland |access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* {{flag|Swiss Confederation|size=x17px}}
* {{flag|Baden|variant=1862|name=Grand Duchy of Baden}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Belgium}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Denmark|civil|size=23px}}
* {{flag|Spain|name=Kingdom of Spain|variant=1874}}
* {{flag|Second French Empire|name=French Empire}}
* {{flag|Grand Duchy of Hesse|size=23px}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of the Netherlands}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Portugal|name=Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Prussia|variant=1803}}
* {{flag|Kingdom of Württemberg}}
{{div col end}}

The [[United Kingdom of Norway and Sweden]] signed in December.<ref name="Euronews">{{cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/12/watch-70th-birthday-of-the-geneva-conventions-why-was-it-signed-and-what-does-it-do| title=Watch: 70th birthday of the Geneva Conventions: Why was it signed and what does it do?| date=12 August 2019|publisher=Euronews |access-date=1 January 2022}}</ref> The [[United Kingdom]] signed a year later in 1865.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/overview/rules.shtml| title=Rules and conventions |publisher=BBC |access-date=22 November 2021}}</ref> The [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]] and [[Austria]] signed in 1866 following the conclusion of the [[Austro-Prussian War]].<ref name="Bennett75">{{cite book |last=Bennett |first=Angela |date=2005 |title=The Geneva Convention, the Hidden Origins of the Red Cross |publisher=Sutton Publishing |page=75 |isbn=978-0750941471}}</ref> The [[United States of America]] signed in 1882.<ref name="BBC"/>

The original document is preserved in the [[Swiss Federal Archives]] in [[Bern]].<ref name="Bennettxiii">{{cite book |last=Bennett |first=Angela |date=2005 |title=The Geneva Convention, the Hidden Origins of the Red Cross |publisher=Sutton Publishing |page=xiii |isbn=978-0750941471}}</ref> In the past it has been loaned to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.<ref name="ICRCLoan">{{cite web|url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/news-release/2009-and-earlier/5avlf8.htm| title=25 Years of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 - Original Geneva Convention of 1864 now in Geneva museum. | date=7 June 2002 |publisher=ICRC |access-date=1 January 2022}}</ref>