On June 24, 1859, Austrian and French troops started a battle in the neighborhood of Solferino city, Italy. At the end of the day 40 000 killed and wounded soldiers were lying in the battlefield.
Medical services were not able to take care of everyone. That evening a man named Henry Dunant was passing by the city. The scene shocked him; he called on the local population to help him to take care of the wounded.
Returning to Switzerland, Dunant published a book titled “A Memory of Solferino”, which defined the first fundamental principles of the international humanitarian law. This very event served as a basis for setting up the International Committee of the Red Cross.
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