August 22, 1864

Geneva Convention (1864)

Twelve states sign the first Geneva Convention

While diplomats signed a humanitarian treaty inside Geneva's city hall, a political riot outside killed four people.

The last day of a two-week conference

The Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field was adopted on 22 August 1864, the closing day of a diplomatic conference that had sat in Geneva since 8 August.

Sixteen states were represented and twelve signed: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Spain, Switzerland and Württemberg. Guillaume-Henri Dufour, who presided over the conference, signed for Switzerland.

Ten articles and a red cross

The treaty ran to ten articles. It required wounded and sick troops to be collected and cared for without distinction of nationality, and gave conditional neutrality to military hospitals, ambulances and their personnel.

It also adopted a red cross on a white ground as the uniform protective sign for medical facilities, evacuation parties and qualifying personnel — an emblem specified by treaty, not merely the badge of a newly named organization.

Signed, not yet in force

The text was left open for other governments to accede, and ratifications were to be exchanged at Bern. The convention entered into force on 22 June 1865, ten months after the signing.

Its subject was narrow: wounded and sick members of armies in the field and their medical services. It did not create general legal protection for civilians, prisoners of war or naval casualties — that is the later, comprehensive four-convention system of 1949.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 8 sources 2 audit passes

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