Solferino 21: Warfare, Civilians and Humanitarians in the Twenty-First Century

To mark the 160^th anniversary of A Memory of Solferino, Henri Dunant’s powerful book that inspired the founding of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the First Geneva Convention of 1864, Hugo Slim has written Solferino 21.

Based on research funded by the National Red Cross Societies of Germany, Norway and Britain, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, this new book examines the state of warfare, civilians and humanitarian aid in the twenty-first century so far and its likely evolution in the next ten years.

The Battle of Solferino marked a tipping point as warfare stepped into the industrial age. Warfare today is at a new tipping point as it moves beyond industrial warfare into the new era of computerised warfare and the extension of warfighting domains beyond land, sea and air into outer space and cyberspace. After two decades of militarily small wars, the world also faces the prospect of a return to “big war” between great powers.

To launch Solferino 21, Professor Dapo Akande will chair a panel to discuss what today’s changes in warfare mean for military ethics and humanitarian aid with Dr Hugo Slim (Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall and ELAC at the University of Oxford), Sorcha O’Callaghan (Director of the Humanitarian Policy Group) and Professor David Whetham (Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession at King’s College London).