<P> In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe . The project resonated well with patriotic sentiments that were on the rise in the late - nineteenth - century, and national societies were often encouraged as signifiers of national moral superiority . In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today . Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton . More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts . In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work . </P> <P> When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean - Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist . More significant than the honor of the prize itself, this prize marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean - Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross . Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden . Only two months earlier his long - standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest - serving president ever . </P> <P> In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time . One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare . Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world . The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa). </P> <P> With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies . Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war . On 15 August 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners - of - War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914 . By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries . Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country . The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923 . The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families . The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva . The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC . </P>

When was the red cross established and why