50 free Red Cross trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
40 free Red Cross trivia questions with answers. This Red Cross trivia quiz tells the story of the world's largest humanitarian movement: the Battle of Solferino that horrified Henry Dunant, the Committee of Five in Geneva, the First Geneva Convention of 1864, the four 1949 conventions, and the emblems, from the reversed Swiss flag to the Red Crescent, the Red Lion and Sun and the Red Crystal. It also covers Clara Barton and the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the League that became the IFRC, the ICRC's three Nobel Peace Prizes, the seven Fundamental Principles, World Red Cross Day and the movement's blood services. Easy questions suit first-aid classes and volunteer socials; the harder ones on dates and people will test students of humanitarian history. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Swiss businessman co-founded the Red Cross after witnessing the aftermath of a battle in 1859?
Henry Dunant
He was on his way to petition Napoleon III about a business venture in Algeria when he stumbled onto the carnage.
Q 02The 1859 battle whose wounded inspired the Red Cross was fought near which Italian town?
Solferino
It was the last major battle in history in which every army was personally commanded by its monarch.
Q 03What was the title of the 1862 book in which Dunant proposed a neutral relief society for the wounded?
A Memory of Solferino
He published it with his own money; Geneva lawyer Gustave Moynier read it and put it before the Geneva Society for Public Welfare.
Q 04Roughly what share of the ICRC's staff today are not Swiss citizens?
About 35%
The committee itself is based in Geneva and its governing members are Swiss.
Q 05In what year was the international movement founded, seven years before the British Red Cross?
1863
The founding conference resolutions called for national relief societies, neutrality for the wounded and a common protective sign.
Q 06Which renowned Swiss Army general sat on the original Committee of Five with Dunant?
Guillaume-Henri Dufour
The others were lawyer Gustave Moynier and doctors Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir.
Q 07How many Nobel Peace Prizes has the International Committee of the Red Cross won?
Three
They came in 1917, 1944 and 1963; only the UN refugee agency has also won more than once.
Q 08Which French pacifist shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with the Red Cross co-founder?
Frédéric Passy
Dunant had spent decades in poverty after a business scandal and expulsion from the committee; his prize money was banked in Norway away from his creditors.
Q 09World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated on 8 May because it is what?
Henry Dunant's birthday
He was born in Geneva on 8 May 1828; the first Red Cross Day was held in 1948.
Q 10In which Swiss village did Dunant spend his final years and die in 1910?
Heiden
A Henry Dunant Museum now stands there.
Q 11Besides the Red Cross, which other organisation did Dunant help found, starting its Geneva chapter in 1852?
The YMCA
He was later expelled from it after his business failure.
Q 12The Red Cross emblem was created by reversing the colours of which national flag?
Switzerland's
American hospitals and ski patrols annoyingly flip it back to a white cross on red, which suggests a Swiss link.
Q 13Which state first used the Red Crescent in the 1870s?
The Ottoman Empire
It was formally recognised as a protective symbol by a 1929 amendment to the Geneva Conventions.
Q 21Which American nurse, known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield', founded the American Red Cross in 1881?
Clara Barton
She earned the nickname helping an overwhelmed surgeon after the Battle of Cedar Mountain in 1862.
Q 22Under which president did the American Red Cross founder finally win US backing?
Chester Arthur
Earthquakes, forest fires and hurricanes were her pitch; the first official meeting was in her Washington apartment on 21 May 1881.
Q 23How old was the American Red Cross's founder when she was forced to resign as its president in 1904?
83
Critics said her personal leadership style did not fit a formal charity; she went on to found the National First Aid Society.
Q 14Which country used the Red Lion and Sun emblem from 1924 to 1980?
Iran
It switched to the Red Crescent in 1980 but explicitly kept the right to use the old symbol.
Q 15What is the name of the fourth, religiously neutral protection emblem adopted by a vote in 2005?
The Red Crystal
It broke the impasse over Israel's Red Star of David; Magen David Adom was admitted in 2006.
Q 16Israel's national society, admitted to the movement in 2006, is called what?
Magen David Adom
Its name means 'Red Shield of David'; it had refused for decades to give up its emblem.
Q 17How many Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 in response to the horrors of World War II?
Four
They cover the wounded on land, the wounded and shipwrecked at sea, prisoners of war and civilians; 196 countries have ratified them.
Q 18In which year was the First Geneva Convention adopted?
1864
Its original ten articles have since grown to 64.
Q 19How many countries have ratified the four 1949 Geneva Conventions?
196
Aside from the UN Charter, they are among the most widely ratified agreements on Earth.
Q 20Which of the four 1949 conventions deals with prisoners of war?
The Third
The First covers the wounded in the field, the Second the wounded and shipwrecked at sea, the Fourth civilians.
Q 24In which New York town was the American Red Cross's first local chapter established in 1881?
Dansville
It met at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Q 25Roughly what share of the donated blood in the United States does the American Red Cross supply?
About 45%
It sells the blood to hospitals on a cost-recovery basis; in 2019 a unit of red cells cost hospitals about $215.
Q 26In which year did Congress grant the American Red Cross the charter formalising its relief role?
1905
It is not a government agency, but the charter tasks it with relief in pestilence, famine, fire and flood.
Q 27Who was the first medical director of the American Red Cross blood programme in 1941?
Charles Drew
Drew's work on blood plasma storage saved countless lives in World War II.
Q 28The British Red Cross was formed in 1870 at the outbreak of which war?
The Franco-Prussian War
It began as the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War at a public meeting in London on 4 August 1870.
Q 29In which year was the League of Red Cross Societies founded in Paris?
1919
Henry Davison of the American Red Cross led the effort with President Wilson's support, extending the movement to peacetime disaster relief.
Q 30How many National Societies were recognised within the movement as of 2024?
191
Decolonisation in the 1960s brought a huge jump in the number of recognised societies.