Battle of Solferino

The Battle of Solferino was fought on 24 June 1859 between the allied French and Sardinian armies and the Austrian army. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers became engaged across a wide front in northern Italy, with severe fighting around Solferino, San Martino and neighbouring villages.

The Allied victory helped bring the campaign to an end, but the scale of the wounded left on the field became equally significant. The suffering witnessed by Henry Dunant inspired the humanitarian movement that led to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the first Geneva Convention.