Anthropology and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: A 2018 Interdisciplinary Observance in Solferino, Italy

When I attended the annual memorial in 2018, 159 years had passed since the 1859 Battle of Solferino in a small town (“paese”) of the province Mantua in the northern region of Lombardy. Solferino is so small that Italians from elsewhere in the country will not recognize the name unless you mention the Battaglia (di Solferino), the last engagement of the Second Italian War of Independence. 300,000 soldiers—deployed from the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Second French Empire—clashed on June 24th, leaving many nations' blood on the Italian hills. With 6,000 soldiers dead and another 40,000 wounded, little did the rulers of that time know the devastating bloodshed at Solferino would inspire one of the largest humanitarian aid programs in the world and bring the once‐battling nations harmoniously together (ICRC, 1998). Henry Dunant was struck by the plight of Solferino veterans and in 1859 founded the Red Cross to provide for victims' families and bring nations together in both war and peace. A century and a half later, over 10,000 volunteers from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), representing seventy‐six nations, gathered in Solferino to memorialize the battle and celebrate Dunant's recognitions. The importance of anthropology represented here is commemorated by the annual unification of nations from all over the world in a common purpose deeply supported by the history of Solferino. Dunant's impact on Solferino has not only brought cultural awareness to the town but has also brought many nations together in universal humanitarianism through his memoir A Memory of Solferino .