In June 1859, Henry Dunant traveled to Solferino on business. He arrived shortly after a battle between Austrian and Napoleonic troops in the Italian town. The battlefield near the town presented a horrifying sight: it was strewn with thousands of dying and wounded soldiers. Dunant mobilized parts of the local population and set up a makeshift hospital where all soldiers, regardless of their national origin, were treated according to the motto "All are brothers." The idea of creating an international, neutral organization for the medical care of the wounded was first articulated by Dunant in this volume. He had a significant influence on the provisions of the first Geneva Convention, the formulation of which he initiated with the publication of his memoirs, and at the same time laid the foundation for the Red Cross.