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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2026

Melanie Oppenheimer
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Neville Wylie
Affiliation:
University of Stirling
Susanne Schech
Affiliation:
Flinders University of South Australia
Romain Fathi
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
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Summary

The book concludes in 1991 when the League’s name changed to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It reiterates the central raison d’être of the League to federate Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around key areas of work and to attend to their needs. The League sought to facilitate and encourage a range of humanitarian activities in peacetime, and provide a permanent conduit between and within its increasingly diverse membership. It was a facilitator, enabler, and coordinator. Its creation in 1919 radically transformed a movement that was a loose configuration of the ICRC and National Societies, mainly from Western Europe, who met periodically to discuss the provision of aid to sick and wounded on the battlefield. The League overturned this model, making the Red Cross more multilateral, more diverse, and more democratic, focusing on the development of a global public health network, to mitigate the suffering and provide humanitarian care. The League was not always successful but the book offers a fresh understanding of ‘Red Crossing’ and underlines the centrality of the League of Red Cross Societies to the history of twentieth-century humanitarianism.

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