A businessman's account of one battle's carnage created the Red Cross
In 1859 Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, which left nearly 40,000 casualties with almost no organized medical care. His 1862 book 'A Memory of Solferino' called for neutral relief societies, leading directly to the Red Cross's founding in 1863 and the first Geneva Convention in 1864. Dunant later shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.