ABSTRACT
Between 1880 and 1906, the Red Cross was transformed from an institution that owed its first allegiance to the idea of civilization to one that, by its actions as well as its words, wholeheartedly supported the aggressive nationalism and militarism of the period. The international Red Cross conferences of the 1880s made it plain that the International Committee of the Red Cross and national societies were prepared to live with the cult of the nation. In The Red Cross: Its Past and Future, G. Moynier had suggested that—unlike the rather too aristocratic and religious Order of St. John—the Red Cross could become the ideal vehicle through which ordinary families and citizens could provide support to those called up for military service. The author took pride in supposing that the Red Cross, "whose program ties it to the present evolution of humanity," would probably move toward the common goal more quickly than the peace movement.
