150 years of humanitarian action: First World War

The First World War confronted the ICRC with new humanitarian problems, together with the devastating consequences of a war without precedent. Those consequences included millions of prisoners of war, the methods of "total war," the destruction of civilian property, long-distance artillery bombardments and the use of chemical weapons. Historian and researcher François Bugnion is also the former director of policy and law at the ICRC. In this video, which marks the 150th anniversary of the organization, he talks about the humanitarian consequences of the First World War and about the efforts of the ICRC and of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to bring a little humanity to the hell of the Great War.