Jean Henri Dunant (1828-1910) was a Swiss merchant who, as a witness to the cruelties of the battle of Solferino, made public the inefficiency of the sanitary organizations in wartime and developed a vision for a relief society of trained volunteers that resulted in the founding of the Red Cross.

Jean Henri Dunant was born on May 8, 1828, in Geneva, Switzerland, to parents who belonged to the nobility. Combining Christian faith with a strong sense of charity, humanity, and justice, his parents taught their young son to respect and support those in need. He often accompanied his mother on her visits to the poor and sick in Geneva's suburbs, visits to dark streets that he would later recall as his first encounters with misfortune and misery. In these early years, the mother's generosity passed to the son, whose enthusiasm for improvement would accompany him throughout his life.

During his...