document_title: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

question_text: who organized the american version of the red cross

question_tokens: who organized the american version of the red cross

text: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

text: History of the movement[edit]

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text: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)[edit]

text: Solferino, Jean-Henri Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC[edit]

text: Until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and/or well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. A devout Reformed Christian, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant, in June 1859, traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France.[4] When he arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June, he toured the field of the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Jean-Henri Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local villagers to aid without discrimination.

text: Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled A Memory of Solferino which he published using his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe, and people he thought could help him make a change. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war, an idea that was inspired by Christian teaching regarding social responsibility, as well as his experience seeing the battlefield of Solferino.[5][6][4] In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

text: In 1863, Gustave Moynier, a Geneva lawyer and president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, received a copy of Dunant's book and introduced it for discussion at a meeting of that society. As a result of this initial discussion the society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five," aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were: Austrian Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, Second French Empire, Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, Spanish Empire, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[citation needed]

text: Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on 29 October 1863, were:

text:
The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;
Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;
The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;
The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties;
The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.

text: Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention:[7]

text:
Grand Duchy of Baden
 Kingdom of Belgium
 Kingdom of Denmark
 Second French Empire
 Grand Duchy of Hesse
 Kingdom of Italy
 Kingdom of the Netherlands
 Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves
 Kingdom of Prussia
  Switzerland
 Kingdom of Spain
 Kingdom of Württemberg

text: The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:

text:
The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention,
The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.

text: Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.

text: Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. Controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city.

text: In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. The project resonated well with patriotic sentiments that were on the rise in the late-nineteenth-century, and national societies were often encouraged as signifiers of national moral superiority.[8] In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton.[9] More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.

text: When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.

text: In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa).

text: The ICRC during World War I[edit]

text: With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On 15 October 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC.

text: During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties’ compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC vigorously protested against this new type of warfare. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories", the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC until the end of the war.

text: Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners". His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees". Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.

text: A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the Committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.

text: As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.

text: The ICRC and World War II[edit]

text: The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene) had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions.

text: During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma, et al. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen.

text: It is known that Swiss army officer Maurice Rossel during World War II had been sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross, as such he visited Auschwitz 1943 and Theresienstadt 1944. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing a documentary entitled Visitor from the living.[10]

text: On 12 March 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Camp Mauthausen), Paul Dunant (Camp Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Camp Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops, thereby saving the lives of about 60,000 inmates. His actions were condemned by the ICRC because they were deemed as acting unduly on his own authority and risking the ICRC's neutrality. Only in 1990, his reputation was finally rehabilitated by ICRC president Cornelio Sommaruga.

text: Another example of great humanitarian spirit was Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva, was another famous delegate during the Second World War. An account of his experiences, which included being one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, can be found in the book Warrior without Weapons.

text: In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from 1 September 1939 to 30 June 1947. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.

text: The ICRC after World War II[edit]

text: On 12 August 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War", was established. Also, the additional protocols of 8 June 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.

text: In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.

text: On 16 October 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on 19 March 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the Committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.

text: At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:

text:
Frédéric Maurice. He died on 19 May 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.
Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were murdered at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of 17 December 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the Chechen city of Nowije Atagi near Grozny. Their murderers have never been caught and there was no apparent motive for the killings.
Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Julio Delgado (Colombia), Unen Ufoirworth (DR Congo), Aduwe Boboli (DR Congo), and Jean Molokabonge (DR Congo). On 26 April 2001, they were en route with two cars on a relief mission in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo when they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.
Ricardo Munguia (El Salvador). He was working as a water engineer in Afghanistan and travelling with local colleagues on 27 March 2003 when their car was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He was 39 years old. The killing prompted the ICRC to temporarily suspend operations across Afghanistan.[11]
Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. On 8 April 2003 their car accidentally came into the cross fire of fighting in the city.
Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on 22 July 2003 when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.
Emmerich Pregetter (Austria). He was an ICRC Logistics Specialist who was killed by a swarm of killer bees on 11 August 2008 while travelling with a convoy of ICRC trucks carrying construction material for rehabilitation of a surgical health clinic in the area of Jebel Marra, West Darfur, Sudan.

text: Afghanistan[edit]

text: ICRC is active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help land mine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and the armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban.[12] They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible".[13]

text: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)[edit]

text: History[edit]

text: In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies". The original idea was Henry Davison's, then president of the American Red Cross. This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.

text: The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between both organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry P. Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.

text: The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.

text: A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.

text: During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people lost their lives while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the Civil War in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.

text: In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. By the end of the 1960s, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On December 10, 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the IFRC signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. In 2004, the IFRC began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.

text: Presidents of the IFRC[edit]

text: As of November 2009, the president of the IFRC is Tadateru Konoe (Japanese Red Cross). The vice presidents are Annemarie Huber-Hotz (Switzerland), Osvaldo Manuel Ferrero (Argentina), Abbas Gullet (Kenya), Francesco Rocca (Italy) and Baige Zhao (China).[citation needed][14]

text: Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:

text:
1919–1922: Henry Davison (U.S.)
1922–1935: John Barton Payne (U.S.)
1935–1938: Cary Travers Grayson (U.S.)
1938–1944: Norman Davis (U.S.)
1944–1945: Jean de Muralt (Switzerland)
1945–1950: Basil O'Connor (U.S.)
1950–1959: Emil Sandström (Sweden)
1959–1965: John MacAulay (Canada)
1965–1977: José Barroso Chávez (Mexico)
1977–1981: Adetunji Adefarasin (Nigeria)
1981–1987: Enrique de la Mata (Spain)
1987–1997: Mario Enrique Villarroel Lander (Venezuela)
1997–2000: Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg (Norway)
2001–2009: Juan Manuel del Toro y Rivera (Spain)
2009– : Tadateru Konoé (Japan)

text: Activities[edit]

text: Organization of the Movement[edit]

text: Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies, the majority with the latter.

text: The 1965 International Conference in Vienna adopted seven basic principles which should be shared by all parts of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986.

text: Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement[edit]

text: At the 20th International Conference in Neue Hofburg, Vienna, from 2–9 October 1965, "proclaimed" seven fundamental principles which are shared by all components of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986. The durability and universal acceptance is a result of the process through which they came into being in the form they have. Rather than an effort to arrive at agreement, it was an attempt to answer the question of what did they have in common, over the past 100 years, those operations and organisational units that were successful? As a result, the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were not revealed, but found - through a deliberate and participative process of discovery.

text: That makes it even more important to note that the text that appears under each "heading" is an integral part of the Principle in question and not an interpretation that can vary with time and place.

text: Humanity

text: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

text: Impartiality

text: It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

text: Neutrality

text: In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

text: Independence

text: The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.

text: Voluntary Service

text: It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.

text: Unity

text: There can be only one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.

text: Universality

text: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.

text: Activities and organization of the International Conference and the Standing Commission[edit]

text: The International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the IFRC and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference.[15] In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the IFRC. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the IFRC (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assembly of the International Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.

text: Activities and organization of the ICRC[edit]

text: The mission of the ICRC and its responsibilities within the Movement[edit]

text: The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts. The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:

text:
to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions
to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield
to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war
to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)
to organize protection and care for civil populations
to arbitrate between warring parties in an armed conflict

text: Legal status and organization[edit]

text: The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site.

text: According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the Committee and respective national governments.

text: According to its statutes it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.

text: The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the Committee. It consists of a general director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the Committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the Committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the Committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five-member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The Council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.

text: Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.

text: Funding and financial matters[edit]

text: The 2009 budget of the ICRC amounts more than 1 billion Swiss francs. Most of that money comes from the States, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the Committee: an annual Headquarters Appeal to cover its internal costs and Emergency Appeals for its individual missions.

text: The ICRC is asking donors for more than 1.1 billion Swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. Afghanistan is projected to become the ICRC’s biggest humanitarian operation (at 86 million Swiss francs, an 18% increase over the initial 2009 budget), followed by Iraq (85 million francs) and Sudan (76 million francs). The initial 2010 field budget for medical activities of 132 million francs represents an increase of 12 million francs over 2009.

text: Activities and organization of the International Federation[edit]

text: The Mission of the IFRC and its responsibilities within the Movement[edit]

text: The IFRC coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the IFRC organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. As per the 1997 Seville Agreement, the IFRC is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The IFRC cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected – each called the Operating National Society (ONS) – as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance – called Participating National Societies (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the International Federation as full members or observers, about 25–30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. Another major mission of the IFRC which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines.

text: The tasks of the IFRC can therefore be summarized as follows:

text:
to promote humanitarian principles and values
to provide relief assistance in emergency situations of large magnitude, such as natural disasters
to support the national societies with disaster preparedness through the education of voluntary members and the provision of equipment and relief supplies
to support local health care projects
to support the national societies with youth-related activities

text: Legal status and organization[edit]

text: The IFRC has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs five zone offices (Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East-North Africa), 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the IFRC is its constitution. The executive body of the IFRC is a secretariat, led by a secretary general. The secretariat is supported by five divisions including "Programme Services", "Humanitarian values and humanitarian diplomacy", "National Society and Knowledge Development" and "Governance and Management Services".

text: The highest decision making body of the IFRC is its General Assembly, which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the secretary general. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the IFRC. It has the authority to make decisions for the IFRC in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the IFRC, the chairpersons of the Finance and Youth Commissions, and twenty elected representatives from national societies.

text: The symbol of the IFRC is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background surrounded by a red rectangular frame.

text: Funding and financial matters[edit]

text: The main parts of the budget of the IFRC are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the IFRC and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by "appeals"[16] published by the IFRC and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.

text: National societies within the movement[edit]

text: Official recognition of a national society[edit]

text: National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the "Conditions for recognition of National Societies."

text:
Be constituted on the territory of an independent State where the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field is in force.
Be the only National Red Cross and-or Red Crescent Society of the said State and be directed by a central body which shall alone be competent to represent it in its dealings with other components of the Movement.
Be duly recognized by the legal government of its country on the basis of the Geneva Conventions and of the national legislation as a voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field.
Have an autonomous status which allows it to operate in conformity with the Fundamental Principles of the Movement.
Use the name and emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in conformity with the Geneva Conventions.
Be so organized as to be able to fulfill the tasks defined in its own statutes, including the preparation in peace time for its statutory tasks in case of armed conflict.
Extend its activities to the entire territory of the State.
Recruit its voluntary members and its staff without consideration of race, sex, class, religion or political opinions.
Adhere to the present Statutes, share in the fellowship which unites the components of the Movement and co-operate with them.
Respect the Fundamental Principles of the Movement and be guided in its work by the principles of international humanitarian law.

text: Once a National Society has been recognized by the ICRC as a component of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), it is in principle admitted to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in accordance with the terms defined in the Constitution and Rules of Procedure of the International Federation.

text: There are today 190 National Societies recognized within the Movement and which are members of the International Federation.

text: The most recent National Societies to have been recognized within the Movement are the Maldives Red Crescent Society (9 November 2011), the Cyprus Red Cross Society and the South Sudan Red Cross Society (12 November 2013).[17]

text: Activities of national societies on a national and international stage[edit]

text: Despite formal independence regarding its organizational structure and work, each national society is still bound by the laws of its home country. In many countries, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies enjoy exceptional privileges due to agreements with their governments or specific "Red Cross Laws" granting full independence as required by the International Movement. The duties and responsibilities of a national society as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the statutes of the Movement include humanitarian aid in armed conflicts and emergency crises such as natural disasters through activities such as Restoring Family Links.

text: Depending on their respective human, technical, financial, and organizational resources, many national societies take on additional humanitarian tasks within their home countries such as blood donation services or acting as civilian Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. The ICRC and the International Federation cooperate with the national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics.

text: History of the emblems[edit]

text: Emblems in use[edit]

text: The Red Cross[edit]

text: The Red Cross emblem was officially approved in Geneva in 1863.[18]

text: The Red Cross flag is not to be confused with the Saint George's Cross which is on the flag of England, Barcelona, Georgia, Freiburg im Breisgau, and several other places. In order to avoid this confusion the protected symbol is sometimes referred to as the "Greek Red Cross" (now Hellenic Red Cross); that term is also used in United States law to describe the Red Cross. The red cross of the Saint George cross extends to the edge of the flag, whereas the red cross on the Red Cross flag does not.

text: The Red Cross flag is the colour-switched version of the Flag of Switzerland. In 1906, to put an end to the argument of the Ottoman Empire that the flag took its roots from Christianity, it was decided to promote officially the idea that the Red Cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of Switzerland, although no clear evidence of this origin had ever been found.[19]

text: The Red Crescent[edit]

text: The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Russia (1876–1878). The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 states in the Muslim world have recognized it. In common with the official promotion of the red cross symbol as a colour reversal of the Swiss flag (rather than a religious symbol), the red crescent is similarly presented as being derived from a colour reversal of the flag of the Ottoman Empire.

text: Nowadays, the Red Crescent symbol is used within a few Muslim countries including Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.[citation needed]

text: The Red Crystal[edit]

text: On 8 December 2005, in response to growing pressure to accommodate Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service, as a full member of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, a new emblem (officially the Third Protocol Emblem, but more commonly known as the Red Crystal) was adopted by an amendment of the Geneva Conventions known as Protocol III.

text: Recognized emblems in disuse[edit]

text: The Red Lion and Sun[edit]

text: The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran was established in 1922 and admitted to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in 1923.[20] However, some report the symbol was introduced at Geneva in 1864[citation needed][21] as a counter example to the crescent and cross used by two of Iran's rivals, the Ottoman and the Russian empires. Though that claim is inconsistent with the Red Crescent's history, that history also suggests that the Red Lion and Sun, like the Red Crescent, may have been conceived during the 1877–1878 war between Russia and Turkey.

text: Due to the emblem's association with the Iranian monarchy, the Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the Red Lion and Sun with the Red Crescent in 1980, consistent with two existing Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols. Though the Red Lion and Sun has now fallen into disuse, Iran has in the past reserved the right to take it up again at any time; the Geneva Conventions continue to recognize it as an official emblem, and that status was confirmed by Protocol III in 2005 even as it added the Red Crystal.[22]

text: Unrecognized emblems[edit]

text: The Red Star of David (Magen David Adom)[edit]

text: For over 50 years, Israel requested the addition of a red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim emblems were recognized, the corresponding Jewish emblem should be as well. This emblem has been used since 1935 by Magen David Adom (MDA), or Red Star of David, the national first-aid society of Israel, but it is not recognized by the Geneva Conventions as a protected symbol.[23]

text: The Red Cross and Red Crescent movement repeatedly rejected Israel's request over the years, stating that the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems were not meant to represent Christianity and Islam but was colour reversals of the Swiss and the Ottoman flags, and also that if Jews (or another group) were to be given another emblem, there would be no end to the number of religious or other groups claiming an emblem for themselves. They reasoned that a proliferation of red symbols would detract from the original intention of the Red Cross emblem, which was to be a single emblem to mark vehicles and buildings protected on humanitarian grounds.

text: Certain Arab nations, such as Syria, also protested against the entry of MDA into the Red Cross movement, making consensus impossible for a time. However, from 2000 to 2006 the American Red Cross withheld its dues (a total of $42 million) to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) because of IFRC's refusal to admit MDA;[24] this ultimately led to the creation of the Red Crystal emblem and the admission of MDA on June 22, 2006.

text: The Red Star of David is not recognized as a protected symbol outside Israel; instead the MDA uses the Red Crystal emblem during international operations in order to ensure protection. Depending on the circumstances, it may place the Red Star of David inside the Red Crystal, or use the Red Crystal alone.

text: 1996 hostage crisis allegations[edit]

text: The Australian TV network ABC and the indigenous rights group Friends of Peoples Close to Nature released a documentary called Blood on the Cross in 1999. It alleged the involvement of the Red Cross with the British and Indonesian military in a massacre in the Southern Highlands of West Papua during the World Wildlife Fund hostage crisis of May 1996, when Western and Indonesian activists were held hostage by separatists.[25][26]

text: Following the broadcast of the documentary, the Red Cross announced publicly that it would appoint an individual outside the organization to investigate the allegations made in the film and any responsibility on its part. Piotr Obuchowicz was appointed to investigate the matter.[27] The report categorically states that the Red Cross personnel accused of involvement were proven not to have been present; that a white helicopter was probably used in a military operation, but the helicopter was not a Red Cross helicopter, and must have been painted by one of several military organizations operating in the region at the time. Perhaps the Red Cross logo itself was also used, although no hard evidence was found for this; that this was part of the military operation to free the hostages, but was clearly intended to achieve surprise by deceiving the local people into thinking that a Red Cross helicopter was landing; and that the Red Cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.[28]


document_title: List of last surviving veterans of military insurgencies and wars

question_text: when did the last boer war veteran died

question_tokens: when did the last boer war veteran died

root

text: List of last surviving veterans of military insurgencies and wars

text: Classical antiquity[edit]

text:
Ramesses II (1303–1213 BC) – Egyptian Pharaoh who, as a young man, fought many battles with the Hittites and Shardana pirates and died aged 90.
Aristodemus of Sparta (c. 530–479 BC) – The "Coward of Thermopylae", who was the only Spartan to survive the Battle of Thermopylae.[1]
Marcus Valerius Corvus (370 BC?–270 BC) – Led the Roman army in the First Samnite War and reputedly lived to the age of 100.[2]
King Masinissa (c. 238 BC–c. 148 BC) – Led the Numidians during the Second Punic War and died at the age of 90.

tag: ul

text: Middle Ages[edit]

text: Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester (1040–1118) – Last of the Norman noblemen proven to have fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.[3]

text: Early modern period[edit]

text: These cases, particularly with respect to the ages claimed by the veterans, cannot be verified as it was common in pre-industrialised societies for elders to exaggerate their age.

tag: p

text:
Anton Grolekofsky (1671/1672?–1785) – Polish soldier who lived in Sweden. Claimed to have fought in the Nine Years' War, Russo-Swedish War (1741–43) and Polish-Swedish War.[4][5]
Andreas Nielsen (1660?–1782) – Norwegian soldier. Claimed to be the last Scanian War veteran, to have had a long military career and seen many battles.[4][6]
Christian Jacobsen Drakenberg (1626?–1772) – Norwegian sailor. Claimed to have fought for Frederick III of Denmark in the Dano-Swedish War (1657–58) and again from 1675 to 1681 in the Scanian War.[7]

text: 17th century[edit]

text: English Civil War (1642–51)[edit]

text: William Hiseland (1620?–1732) – Wiltshire native. Fought for royalists in this war, Williamite War in Ireland and War of the Spanish Succession.[8] Last survivor of Battle of Edgehill. Retired with rank of sergeant.[9] For 80-year service to the king, he became one of the earliest admitted to Royal Hospital Chelsea.[10]

text: First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54)[edit]

text: Richard Haddock (1629–1714) – Royal Navy.[11]

text: 18th century[edit]

text: Great Northern War (1700–21)[edit]

text: Petro Kalnyshevsky (1691?–1803) – Last of the Zaporozhian Host. Also fought in 1735–39 and 1768–74 Russo-Turkish Wars (by which time he was an Ataman).

text: War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14)[edit]

text: Ambrose Bennett (or Tennant) (1693/1694?-1800) - served at the Battle of Malplaquet and reputedly died at the age of 106.[12][13]

text: Jacobite risings (1719–45)[edit]

text:
Peter Grant (1714?–1824) – Scottish Jacobite Rebel. Fought at Culloden, Falkirk Muir and Prestonpans.[14]
George Browne (1698–1792) – Irish nobleman. Supported Old Pretender. Later became mercenary in Russian army.[15]

text: War of the Polish Succession (1733–38)[edit]

text: Jean Thurel (1698?–1807) – Died in France. Also served in the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Known as "oldest soldier of Europe."[16]

text: Russo-Turkish wars (1735–74)[edit]

text: Petro Kalnyshevsky (1691?–1803) – Last of the Zaporozhian Host and last known living veteran of the Great Northern War. Fought in the 1735–39 and 1768–74 Russo-Turkish Wars (by which time he was an Ataman).[17]

text: War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48)[edit]

text: Jean Thurel (1698?–1807) – Died in France. Also served in the War of the Polish Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Known as "oldest soldier of Europe."[16]

text: French and Indian War (1754–63)[edit]

text:
Jonathan Benjamin (1738–1841) – Also fought in American Revolutionary War. Settled in Granville, Ohio in 1802.[18]
James Thompson (1733–1830) – Engineer in Frasers Highlanders. Settled in Quebec City.[19][20]
Robert Abercromby of Airthrey (1740–1827) – Died in Great Britain.[21]
Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière (1748–1822) – Died in Montreal, Quebec, British Empire.[22]

text: Seven Years' War (1754–63)[edit]

text:
Johann Heinrich Behrens (1735?–1844) – Died in Germany.[23]
Ezekiel Blackmarr (1742–1841) – Britain. Born in the American colonies. Enlisted in British forces and was their last survivor of the Battle of Havana (1762)[24]
Paul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon (1746–1828) – Died in France.[25]
Henry Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton (1743–1821) – Died in Britain.[26]

text: American Revolutionary War (1775–83)[edit]

text:
Daniel Bakeman (1759–1869) – Alleged veteran. Awarded pension via Congress, though no support of service has been located.[27]
John Gray (1764–1868) – Last verifiable veteran although period of service was too short for him for pension qualification.[28]
Samuel Downing (1764–1867)[29]
Lemuel Cook (1759–1866) – Last official veteran; honorable discharge signed by George Washington.[30]
Barnabas Cochran (1758–1864) – Pennsylvania State Militia. Longest lived verified veteran.[31]

text: French Revolution (1789–99)[edit]

text:
Nicolas Savin (1768?–1894) – Enlisted in 2nd Regiment of Hussars in 1798. 1768 figure proclaims he was approximately 126 at time of death. Later served under Napoleon and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur.[32]
Giovanni Battista Campanella (1776?–1884) – France. Served in Italy during the French Revolutionary Wars and later in the 1812 Russian campaign.[33][34]
Yves Couédic (1774?–1883) – France. Fought in the Vendée in 1793[35][36]
Pierre Petit (1779–1882) – France. Served in the French invasion of Egypt[37]
Arthur Dardenne (1776–1872) – France. Last surviving person to have taken part in the Storming of the Bastille.[38]

text: Irish Rebellion of 1798[edit]

text: William Kinsella (1775–1870) — Irish rebel, fought at Castlecomer.[39]

text: 19th century[edit]

text: Napoleonic Wars (1803–15)[edit]

text:
Vincent Markiewicz (1795?–1903) – Last Polish veteran. Fought for Napoleon.[40][41] In 1912 there were three Polish men who claimed to have fought at Borodino, but it is unlikely they were real veterans due to lack of documentation and age ranges relatively high from 120 to 133.
Jean Adrin (1797–1902) – Last French veteran.[42]
Geert Adriaans Boomgaard (1788–1899) – Last Dutch veteran and Europe's oldest man at the time of his death. He fought for France in the 33ème Régiment Léger.[32]
Louis Victor Baillot (1793–1898) – French veteran. Last Battle of Waterloo veteran. Saw action at siege of Hamburg.[43]
Pedro Martínez (1789?–1898) – Last Battle of Trafalgar veteran. Served in Spanish navy on San Juan Nepomuceno.[32]
Leonard Meesters (1796–1896) – Last Belgian veteran. Fought for Napoleon.[32]
Josephine Mazurkewicz (1794–1896) – Last female veteran. Assistant surgeon in Napoleon's army. Later partook in Crimean War.[32]
Sir Provo Wallis (1791–1892) – Canadian born, served at sea in Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812.[44]
Morris Shea (1795–1892) – 73rd Foot – Last Scottish veteran.[45]
Vasilij Nikolaevich Kochetkov (1785?–1892) Russian Imperial Army. Enlisted 7 March 1811. Served in Grenadier Lifeguard Regiment at Borodino. Served 66 1/2 years until 12 October 1877 when wounded out of service in the Russian-Ottoman War.[46][47][48]
Joseph Sutherland (1789–1890) – Last English veteran. Royal Navy. Last British survivor of Trafalgar.[49]

text: War of 1812 (1812–15)[edit]

text:
Hiram Cronk (1800–1905) – United States Army.[50]
Sir Provo Wallis (1791–1892) – Royal Navy. Napoleonic veteran.[44]

text: Greek War of Independence (1821–32)[edit]

text: John W Stainer (1808–1907) – Royal Navy. Last survivor of the Battle of Navarino.[51]

text: July Revolution (1830)[edit]

text: Auguste Lebailly (1815–1911)[52][53]

text: Belgian Revolution (1830–31)[edit]

text: Philippe Demoulin (1809–1912) – Belgium[54]

text: Texas War of Independence (1835–36)[edit]

text:
Alfonso Steele (1817–1911) – Last veteran of Battle of San Jacinto.[55]
James L. Allen (1815–1901) – Texan courier at Alamo.[56]

text: Black Hawk War (1832)[edit]

text: Henry L. Riggs (1812–1911)[57]

text: Rebellions of 1837[edit]

text:
Nelson Truax (1818–1915) – Hunters' Lodges. Last survivor of the Battle of the Windmill[58]
François X. Matthieu (1818–1914) – Parti Patriote.[59]
Douglas Labalmondière (1815–1893) – Upper Canada Rebels.[60]

text: Mexican-American War (1846–48)[edit]

text:
Owen Thomas Edgar (1831–1929) – United States Navy.[61]
Antonio Rincón Gallardo (c. 1833–1928) – Mexican Army.[62] Enlisted at 13 years old and served at Churubusco in 1847.

text: Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49 (1848–49)[edit]

text:
József Fischl (1827–1929) — Last Hungarian veteran.[63]
István Lebo (1826–1928) — Believed the last Hungarian veteran. Last resident of the Hungarian Veterans Home.
Artúr Görgey (1818–1916) — Last Hungarian General.

text: Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–49)[edit]

text: John Stratford (1829–1932) – British East India Company. Fought in the battles of Ramnagar, Challianwala, and Gujrat. Later served in the Anglo-Persian War as well as the Indian Mutiny.[64]

text: First Schleswig War (1848–51)[edit]

text:
Jørgen Jørgensen Birkholm (1829–1931) – Last Danish veteran[65]
Detlef Marxen (c.1825 - 1930) – Last German veteran[66]

text: Crimean War (1853–56)[edit]

text:
Charles Longden (1833–1938) – British. Served in the Royal Engineers[67][68]
Yves Prigent (1833–1938) – French sailor.[32]
Edwin Bezar (1838–1936) – British soldier. Also last British soldier in New Zealand Wars.
Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 10th Baronet (1835–1936) – possible last British Army officer (he died 9 months after Bezar).[69][70]
Charles Nathan (1834–1934) – Last French soldier. Saw action in Italy, Syria, Mexico and Franco-Prussian War.[citation needed]
Luigi Parachini (c. 1832–1930) – Last Sardinian soldier. Served under general La Màrmora.[71]
Edwin Hughes (1830–1927) – Last survivor of Charge of the Light Brigade.[72]
Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton (1845–1940). Claimed to have been a naval cadet on HMS Dragon during the siege of Sevastopol, earning two campaign medals before his twelfth birthday. There is no record of his having enrolled in the Royal Navy and at time of his visits to the Crimea (mid-May to mid-July 1856), nobody was entitled to the award of the British Crimea Medal.[73] Later Colonel in British Army in Second Boer War.
Timothy (c.1839–2004) – Ship's tortoise mascot of HMS Queen during the first bombardment of Sevastopol in the Crimean War (she was the last survivor of this war).[74]

text: Seminole Wars (1816–58)[edit]

text: Jacob C. Marsh (c. 1818–1917) – U.S Volunteers. Last participant of the Second Seminole War[75]

text: Indian Mutiny (1857–59)[edit]

text:
Charles Palmer (1847–1940) – Nine-year-old boy who participated in the Siege of Lucknow
Robert Collinson d'Esterre Spottiswoode (1841–1936) – Last British Army veteran.[76][77]

text: Third Italian War of Independence (1866)[edit]

text: Giovanni Battista Egisto Sivelli (1843–1934) – Italy.[78][79]

text: New Zealand Wars (1845–72)[edit]

text: Edwin Bezar (1838–1936), last British soldier. Settled in New Zealand.

text: Second Italian War of Independence (1859)[edit]

text:
Anton Neubauer (1836–1941) – Austria. Last survivor of the Battle of Solferino.[80][81]
Amedeo Galle (1837–1936) – Italy.[82]
François Ribet (1835–1936) – France.[83]
William John Newby (1832–1934) – England. Last member of British Legion.[84]

text: American Civil War (1861–65)[edit]

text: Union[edit]

text: Albert Woolson (1850–1956)[85]

text: Confederacy[edit]

text: Last surviving Confederate veterans

text:
Name
Claimed birth date
Believed birth date
Death date
Status

Pleasant Crump
23 December 1847

31 December 1951
Verified

Felix M. Witkoski
5 January 1850
October 1854
3 February 1952
Dubious

Thomas Edwin Ross
19 July 1850

27 March 1952
Possible

Richard William Cumpston
23 May 1841

5 September 1952
Unknown

William Murphy Loudermilk[86]
23 October 1847[87]
April 1851[88]
18 September 1952
Possible

William Joshua Uncle Josh Bush[89][90]
10 July 1845
July 1846
11 November 1952
Verified[91]

Arnold Murray[92]
10 June 1846
1842/1855[93]
26 November 1952
Possible[94]

William Daniel Uncle Eli Townsend[89][95]
12 April 1846

22 February 1953
Verified[96]

William Albert Kinney
10 February 1843/1846[97]
10 February 1861[98]
23 June 1953
Probable[99]

Thomas Evans Riddle
16 April 1846[100]
1862[101]
2 April 1954
Possible[102]

tag: table

text: Most cases are questionable, though it should be remembered that many Confederate records were destroyed or lost to history. Unlike the U.S. military archives, the Confederate records had no official archive system after the war. However, for most of the cases investigated, the ages of the claimants alone were enough to prove their claim was false. Walter Williams was generally acknowledged as the "last Confederate veteran" in 1950s newspapers. However, in September 1959 an exposé by The New York Times revealed that he was in fact born in 1854 in Itawamba County, Mississippi, and not 1842 as claimed. Still, since Salling and all the other claimants were dead, Williams was celebrated as the last Confederate veteran after his death on 20 December 1959.[103]

text: Salling's own status is disputed. In 1991, William Marvel examined the claims of Salling and several other "last Civil War veterans" for a piece in the Civil War history magazine Blue & Gray. Marvel found census data that indicated Salling was born in 1858, not 1846. Although in 1900 Salling supplied a birthdate of March 1858, he appears to have been born around 1856, still too late to have served in the Confederate Army. The 1860 census lists him as 4 years old, and the 1870 census as 14.[104] William Lundy is listed as 1 year old on the 1860 census, and from 1870 until 1930 he gave census marshals ages that reflected birthdates as early as 1853 and as late as 1860. He did not push his birthdate back to the 1840s until he applied for a Confederate pension from the state of Florida. In the same piece, Marvel confirmed Woolson's claim to be the last surviving Union veteran and asserted that Woolson was the last genuine Civil War veteran on either side. However, Marvel did not present research establishing who, among the several other Confederate claims from the 1950s, some of which appear to be genuine, was the real last Confederate veteran.

text: French invasion of Mexico (1861–67)[edit]

text:
Jules Pujos (1846–1942) – France.[32]
Francisco Arellano Zenteno (1842–1935) – Mexico. Fought at the battles of Puebla, La Carbonera and Tuxtepec. Had previously served in the Reform War.[105]

text: January Uprising (1863–65)[edit]

text: Feliks Bartczuk (1846–1946) – Last veteran.[106]

text: Second Schleswig War (1864)[edit]

text: Ove Henning Jacobsen (1841–1941) – Last Danish veteran.[107]

text: Expedition to Abyssinia (1867–68)[edit]

text: Adrian Jones (1845–1938) – served as veterinary officer, believed to be last British survivor.[108] Also served in First Boer War and Nile Expedition.

text: Indian Wars (1622–1924)[edit]

text:
Otto D. Van Norman (1876–1981) – Served in the local posse during the Battle of Kelley Creek[109]
Frederick Fraske (1872–1973) – Last U.S Army veteran[110]
Hubert V. Eva (1869–1971) – Last participant of the Battle of Sugar Point, last battle fought between Native Americans and the U.S. Army[111]
John Daw (1870–1965) – Last surviving U.S. Indian Scout [112][113]
Dewey Beard (1857–1955) – Native American from Lakota tribe. Last survivor of Battle of the Little Big Horn.[114] Also fought at Wounded Knee.[115]
William James Howard (1826–1924) – fought in the Mariposa War in Yosemite Valley.[116]
David McCoy (1790–1895) – Fought in Tecumseh's War. Saw Chief Tecumseh die while fighting in the Battle of the Thames. Served in the War of 1812[117]
Josiah Allen (1800–1891) – Enlisted at 14 to serve in the Creek War. Later served in the War of 1812.[118]

text: Franco-Prussian War (1870–71)[edit]

text:
Seraphin Pruvost (1849–1955) – Last French veteran.[32]
Karl Glöckner (1845–1953) – Last German veteran.[32]

text: Paris Commune (1871)[edit]

text:
Adrien Lejeune (1847–1942) – Last Communard.[32][119]
Emile Chausse (1850–1941) – Left army and joined the communards in 1870.[32]
Antonin Desfarges (1851–1941) – Last Communard député.[32]

text: Third Anglo-Ashanti War (1873–74)[edit]

text: Harry Figg (1855–1953) – possible last British service veteran, died in Australia. Also served in First Boer War and Second Boer War.[7] [8]

text: Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)[edit]

text:
Konstantin Vikent'evich Hrutskij (1855–1967) – Preobrazhenskij Lifeguard Regiment.[120] Claim is not fully verified, and Hrutskij's own accounts of his experience contradict historical records.[121]
Nene Hatun (1857–1955) – Turkey. Fought at the Battle of Erzurum.

text: Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80)[edit]

text: Alfred Hawker (1858–1962) – last British Army survivor[122]

text: Zulu War (1879)[edit]

text:
Charles Wallace Warden (died 1953) – Transferred to First Foot in 1874.[123]
Frank Bourne (1854–1945) – Last survivor of Rorke's Drift.[124]

text: War of the Pacific (1879–84)[edit]

text: Ricardo Orellana Olate (1860–1967) – Chilean Army[125][126]

text: First Boer War (1880–81)[edit]

text: Harry Figg (1855–1953) – possibly last British Army survivor of this war, fought at Majuba Hill and Laing's Nek. (Previously served 1873 Anglo-Ashanti War.)

text: Anglo-Egyptian War (1882)[edit]

text: Sir Dudley de Chair (1864–1958) – British Army.[127]

text: Mahdist War (1882–99)[edit]

text:
James Richard Miles (1879–1977) – Britain. Last survivor of the Battle of Omdurman.[128]
William Francis Saville (1878–1968) – Lancashire Fusiliers. Fought at Battle of Omdurman, in Boer War and on Western Front 1915-18.

text: Nile Expedition (1884–85)[edit]

text: Sir Reginald Wingate (1861–1953) – last British officer survivor (later General in World War I).

text: Northwest Rebellion (1885)[edit]

text:
William Dickie Mills (1866–1971) — Canada[129][130]
Honoré Jackson (1861–1952) — Provisional Government of Saskatchewan[131]

text: Cuban War of Independence (1895–98)[edit]

text: Juan Fajardo Vega (1881–1990) – Cuban Liberation Army. Later served in the 1912 Negro Rebellion and the Cuban Revolution.[132][133]

text: Spanish–American War (1898)[edit]

text:
Jones Morgan (1882–1993)[134]
Aurelio Diaz Campillo (1878–1989)[135] – Spain

text: 20th century[edit]

text: Second Boer War (1899–1902)[edit]

text:
George Frederick Ives (1881–1993) – British army. Later emigrated to Canada.[136]
Pieter Arnoldus Krueler (1885–1986) – Boer army. Later served in both world wars and the Spanish Civil War and was a mercenary in the Congo Crisis.[137]

text: Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901) and Philippine–American War (1899–1902)[edit]

text: Nathan E. Cook (1885–1992)[138]

text: Potemkin Mutiny (1905)[edit]

text: Ivan Beshoff (1885–1987) – Sailor on Russian battleship Potemkin. Fled to Ireland and opened a fish and chips shop.[139]

text: Russo-Japanese War (1904–05)[edit]

text:
Mamoru Eto (1883–1992) – Japanese Army[140]
Alex Gory (1881–1989) – Russian Army[141]

text: Macedonian Struggle (1904–08)[edit]

text: Christos Papantoniou (1890–1995) – Greece[142]

text: Mexican Revolution (1910–20)[edit]

text:
Juan Carlos Caballero Vega (1900–2010) – Pancho Villa's driver.[143]
Feliciano Mejia (1899–2008) – Last living member of Emiliano Zapata's Ejército Libertador del Sur.[144][145]
Antonio Gómez Delgado (1900–2007) – Last living member of Pancho Villa's División del Norte[146][147]
Teodoro García (1889–1999) – Last Federal soldier.[148][149]

text: Italo-Turkish War (1911–12)[edit]

text: Luigi Gilardi (1892–1993) – Italian Colonial Forces. Also served in WWI and WWII.[150]

text: Balkan Wars (1912–13)[edit]

text:
Lăcătușu Dumitrașcu (1891–1999) – Romanian Army. Also served in WWI and WWII[151]
Christos Papantoniou (1890–1995) – Greek Army. Also served in WWI and WWII.[142]
Hristo Getov-Obbov (1893–1994) – Bulgarian Army.[152]
Hüseyin Kaçmaz (1884–1994) – Ottoman Army. Also served in WWI.[153]
Danilo Dajković (1895–1993) – Montenegrin Army. Also served in WWI.[154]

text: World War I (1914–18)[edit]

text:
Florence Green (1901–2012) – Britain. Last veteran of World War I from any country. Served as an officer's mess steward in the Women's Royal Air Force.
Claude Choules (1901–2011) – Britain. Last combat veteran. Served in the Royal Navy. Also last veteran to serve in both World Wars.
Harry Patch (1898–2009) – Britain. Last soldier to fight in the trenches.
Franz Künstler (1900–2008) – Austria-Hungary. Last veteran from the Central Powers.

text: Easter Rising (1916)[edit]

text:
John Rogers (1894–2000) – British Army. Also served in WWI.[155]
Lily Kempson (1897–1996) – Irish Citizen Army.[156]
William Connor Hogan (1898–1995) – Irish Volunteers.[157] Also served in the War of Independence and the Civil War.[158]

text: October Revolution (1917)[edit]

text: Boris Gudz (1902–2006) – Red Army. Also fought in Russian Civil War.[159]

text: Russian Civil War (1917–22)[edit]

text: Russian participants:

text:
Boris Gudz (1902–2006) – Red Army. Also fought in October Revolution.[159]
Nikolai Fyodorov (1901–2003) – White Army.[160]

text: Veterans of Allied military intervention forces:

text:
Warren V. Hileman (1901–2005) – last US Army veteran of Polar Bear Expedition.[161][162]
Harold Edwin Radford (1897–2003) – last known Canadian veteran, was stationed at Vladivostok.[163]
Jean Piry (1896–2003) – last known French Army veteran[164]
Frank William Ivers (1902–2003) – last known British veteran, served in Royal Navy off north Russia.
Harold Gunnes (1899–2003) – last US Navy veteran of the Polar Bear Expedition. Saw action against the Bolsheviks on USS Olympia (C-6) in 1918.

text: Finnish Civil War (1918)[edit]

text:
Lauri Nurminen (1906–2009) – White Guards.[165]
Aarne Arvonen (1897–2009) – Red Guards.[166]

text: Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19)[edit]

text: Jan Rzepa (1899–2005) – Last Polish fighter.[167]

text: German Revolution of 1918–19[edit]

text:
Helmut Fink (1901–2009) – Freikorps.[168][169]
William Seegers (Also second last German World War One Veteran) (1900–2007) – German Army.[170]

text: Polish–Ukrainian War (1918–19)[edit]

text: Major Aleksander Sałacki (1904–2008) – Poland. Last surviving Lwów Eaglet.[171][172]

text: Estonian War of Independence (1918–20)[edit]

text:
Ants Ilus (1901–2006) – Died in Estonia.[173]
Karl Jaanus (1899–2000) – Last surviving Cross of Liberty recipient awarded during war.[174]

text: Latvian War of Independence (1918–20)[edit]

text:
Arnolds Hofmanis (1900–2006) – Died in Tukums, Latvia.[175]
Arvīds Lauris (1901–2003) – Last surviving Order of Lāčplēsis recipient awarded during war.[176]

text: Lithuanian Wars of Independence (1918–20)[edit]

text:
Kazys Varkala (1900–2005) – Lithuania. Fought against the Soviets and the Bermontians[177]
Česlovas Januškevičius (1900–2001) – Lithuania. Fought the Polish in 1920.[178]

text: Irish War of Independence (1919–21)[edit]

text:
Dan Keating (1902–2007) – Irish Republican Army.[179]
Bert Clark (1899–2005) – British Army.[180]
Hugh McIvor (1901–2002) – Last survivor of the Royal Irish Constabulary[181]

text: Polish–Soviet War (1919–21)[edit]

text: Alexander Imich (1903–2014) - Poland.[182]

text: Silesian Uprisings (1919–21)[edit]

text: Wilhelm Meisel (1904–2009) – Last survivor.[183][184]

text: Polish–Lithuanian War (1919–20)[edit]

text:
Stefan Jan Ostrowski (1902–2003) – Poland. Also fought against the Soviets.[185]
Česlovas Januškevičius (1900–2001) – Lithuania.[178]

text: Turkish War of Independence (1919–23)[edit]

text: Mustafa Şekip Birgöl (1903–2008) – Died in Turkey.[186]

text: Greco-Turkish War (1919–22)[edit]

text:
Veysel Turan (1901–2007) – Turkey
Napoleon Patricios (1899–2006)[187] – Greece. Served on board the destroyer Ierax.

text: Rif War (1920-1926)[edit]

text: Francisco Nunez Olivera (born 1904) – Spain.[188]

text: March on Rome (1922)[edit]

text: Vasco Bruttomesso (1903–2009)[189]

text: Irish Civil War (1922-23)[edit]

text:
Dan Keating (1902–2007) – Anti-treaty forces. Served in the Irish Republican Army.[179]
Seán Clancy (1901-2006) – Pro-treaty forces. Served in the National Army[190]

text: Northern Expedition (1926–28)[edit]

text: Tsien Tsuen-hsuin (1909–2015) – National Revolutionary Army.[191]

text: Cristero War (1926–29)[edit]

text: Juan Daniel Macías Villegas (1912–2016) – Last surviving Cristero.[192]

text: Nanchang Uprising (1927)[edit]

text: Xiao Ke (1907–2008) – Last Communist officer.[193]

text: Brazilian Revolution of 1930[edit]

text: Waldemar Levy Cardoso (1900–2009) – Brazilian army.[194]

text: Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)[edit]

text:
Delmer Berg (1915–2016) - United States. Last veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Günther Scholz (1911–2014) - Germany. Last veteran of the Condor Legion.
At least six Republicans and three Nationalists still living as of 2017[update].