Understanding Humanitarian Competition: Conflict between the Red Crosses after 1919

At the end of World War I, the ICRC was unanimously praised for its beneficial action towards prisoners of war. Simultaneously, the League of the Societies of the Red Cross was founded, with a main ambition to promote a new type of humanitarian action focused on peace time activities. Soon enough both institutions were to (sometimes ferociously) confront each other. This paper describes and analyzes the first years of this protracted struggle and raises the question of the subtle and multifaceted competition that could possibly arise between humanitarian institutions.