History of humanitarian action in the 20th century
- Page updated onApril 30, 2026
The 19th century had laid the institutional and legal foundations of the humanitarian system, and the 20th century put them to the test. During these years, humanitarian action expanded in the midst of conflicts on an unprecedented scale.
This article traces this period, from the impact of the First World War on the civilian population and the emergence of new organisations in the interwar period, through the Second World War, the consolidation of the United Nations system after 1945, and the difficult landscape for NGOs during the Cold War. This journey culminates in the 1990s and all the changes that transformed the humanitarian system following the Rwanda crisis in 1994.
Table of contents:
Evolution of the humanitarian system during the First World War and the interwar period
The humanitarian impact of the First World War on the civilian population
The first great challenge for the newly created Red Cross Societies would come with the First World War (Anderson et al., 2018)Anderson, M., Becknell, K., & Taliano, J. (2018). History of humanitarian emergencies. In D. Townes (Ed.), Health in humanitarian emergencies: Principles and practice for public health and healthcare practitioners (pp. 9–24). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107477261.003. From the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which would precipitate the conflict in 1914, to the signing of the Armistice of 1918, which would bring the fighting to an end, between 15 and 22 million people died, both military and civilian.
The major international humanitarian initiatives of the preceding years had focused on assistance to wounded combatants. However, this war also exposed the enormous humanitarian needs of the civilian population, both during and after the conflict. Although in the collective imagination mortality in the First World War is associated with soldiers in trenches (Slim, 2024)Slim, H. (2024). Solferino 21: Warfare, civilians and humanitarians in the twenty-first century (Paperback ed.). Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/solferino-21/, it is estimated that around 10 million civilians died as a result of horrific atrocities, forced displacement, poverty, hunger, and disease in a devastated Europe (Anderson et al., 2018)Anderson, M., Becknell, K., & Taliano, J. (2018). History of humanitarian emergencies. In D. Townes (Ed.), Health in humanitarian emergencies: Principles and practice for public health and healthcare practitioners (pp. 9–24). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107477261.003.
Humanitarian assistance during the First World War
The Red Cross played a fundamental role in responding to this humanitarian crisis. Although the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had already been in existence for almost fifty years, it was still a small organisation of the upper bourgeoisie of Geneva with barely ten staff members when the conflict began (Palmieri, 2014)Palmieri, D. (2014, September 9). The International Committee of the Red Cross in the First World War. International Committee of the Red Cross. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-committee-red-cross-first-world-war-0. Supported by 38 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in different countries, they were able to assist tens of thousands of people. Just months after the start of the war, the organisation grew from ten workers to 1,200, between salaried staff and volunteers. They repatriated the wounded, reunited families separated by the conflict, and monitored compliance with the Geneva Conventions, which had been updated in 1906. It was the first time the organisation had assisted civilian populations.
In addition to the Red Cross, various organisations and neutral governments provided humanitarian assistance during the First World War, such as the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the American Field Service, Spain's Oficina Pro Cautivos, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, led by Herbert Hoover. The latter, supported by foundations and allied governments (Iacobelli, 2021)Iacobelli, T. (2021, December 10). World War I & the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller Archive Center. https://resource.rockarch.org/story/world-war-i-the-rockefeller-foundation/, supplied food to the civilian population in German-occupied Belgium for three years. This saved many lives, but also prolonged the German occupation (Brauman, 2016)Brauman, R. (2016, July 25). War and humanitarian aid. MSF CRASH. https://msf-crash.org/en/war-and-humanitarianism/war-and-humanitarian-aid.
Humanitarian initiatives in the interwar period
Following the Armistice of 1918, new international organisations emerged. Among them was Save the Children, founded in 1919 by Eglantyne Jebb to raise funds and send food aid to the civilian population of Germany, starving as a result of the continued British naval blockade (Save the Children, 2022)Save the Children. (2022). Our history. https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/our-history. It thus became the first NGO dedicated to humanitarian assistance to the civilian population (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf, an aspect that until then had been considered secondary to assistance to combatants.
During this period an important global humanitarian milestone occurred with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the creation of the first permanent international organisation for the maintenance of world peace: the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations. This organisation, which the following year would already have a High Commissioner for Refugees, managed to reach peaceful solutions in several minor conflicts, but failed when faced with conflicts involving the major world powers.
The United States never joined the League of Nations, Germany, Japan, and Italy abandoned it in the 1930s, and the USSR was expelled in 1939. The League of Nations was unable to contain the rise of fascism in Europe and prevent a Second World War from occurring (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf.
Humanitarian assistance during the Second World War and the postwar period
The Second World War: a major challenge for the humanitarian organisations of the time
The fledgling and newly created humanitarian system was not yet prepared for what would come in the following years. The Second World War, fought between 1939 and 1945, was the most significant armed conflict of the 20th century. Between 60 and 75 million people died, including at least 20 million who perished due to hunger, poverty, and disease, and another 6 million in the Holocaust. This conflict also had an unprecedented impact on the civilian population. It is estimated that more than two thirds of all deaths occurred among civilians.
Although during the Second World War (1939-1945) new organisations such as IRC, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, and CARE emerged to provide assistance to affected populations (Slim, 2024)Slim, H. (2024). Solferino 21: Warfare, civilians and humanitarians in the twenty-first century (Paperback ed.). Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/solferino-21/, the scale of this conflict posed a challenge for all of them. The magnitude of the war exceeded the capacity to respond to and coordinate humanitarian efforts, which could not overcome the restrictions imposed by the belligerent states.
The tragic history of the Red Cross and the Holocaust
The ICRC's neutrality was put to the test in the face of terrible war crimes. In this context, the organisation lacked the mandate to protect people sent to Nazi concentration camps (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf, although it attempted to do so through multiple strategies rejected by the Germans. Furthermore, and in order to maintain the possibility of providing some humanitarian assistance to prisoners of war, it did not condemn the atrocities of the Holocaust, despite being a direct witness to the genocide.
At the same time, the ICRC cooperated through national Red Cross societies that worked hand in hand with totalitarian governments. The German Red Cross Society, for example, not only served the Nazi totalitarian regime, but throughout the war was led by Dr Ernst Grawitz, a Reich physician, SS officer, and the person responsible for terrible experiments on prisoners in concentration camps (Slim, 2022)Slim, H. (2002). Humanitarianism and the Holocaust. Journal of Holocaust Education, 10(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/714003703.
Unlike the examples already mentioned, ICRC delegates in Greece (René Burckhardt), Slovakia (Georges Dunand), Romania (Karl Kolb), and Hungary (Jean de Bavier and Friedrich Born) did everything possible to protect Jews from the atrocities, going so far as to receive criticism from the organisation for jeopardising its impartiality and credibility as an institution. This demonstrated how tensions arise between the principles of an organisation and the consciences of those who work within it at different levels or in different places (Slim, 2022)Slim, H. (2002). Humanitarianism and the Holocaust. Journal of Holocaust Education, 10(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/714003703.
Taken together, the analysis reveals the fragility of the architecture, operational capacity, and principles of a humanitarian system that was not yet well developed.
International cooperation was transformed after the Second World War
The major development of international cooperation came after the Second World War, with the creation of the United Nations, the founding of new NGOs, and the development of international humanitarian law.
Furthermore, numerous key milestones during this period shaped the sector, consolidating the humanitarian system we know today.
After the end of the Second World War, the major allied powers decided to establish a new global organisation to replace the League of Nations. For weeks, representatives from fifty countries worked on a text, drawing on several treaties and declarations, which was ratified on 24 October 1945, giving rise to the formal creation of the United Nations. The new organisation was born with a similar purpose to that of the League of Nations, but better prepared for the preservation of peace.
The global momentum of the United Nations and the birth of major international NGOs
Following the first United Nations General Assembly in 1946, some of the major agencies we know today began to be established. UNICEF was created that same year, 1946, to provide food assistance to children in Europe. Two years later, WHO was created in 1948, the same year the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. In 1950, UNHCR was established. In 1961, a United States food aid initiative eventually led to the creation of the World Food Programme. The United Nations system continued to grow and evolve in the years that followed (United Nations, n.d.)United Nations. (n.d.). History of the United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un/.
In these first years after the Second World War, new non-governmental humanitarian organisations also began to emerge, such as World Vision (created in 1950 to respond to the humanitarian needs of the Korean War), Caritas (created in 1951, bringing together a large number of already existing Catholic organisations), and Danish Refugee Council (created in 1956, when a group of Hungarian refugees arrived in Denmark), for example. Despite their diversity, all were born with the mission of assisting and protecting civilians in humanitarian crises (Slim, 2024)Slim, H. (2024). Solferino 21: Warfare, civilians and humanitarians in the twenty-first century (Paperback ed.). Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/solferino-21/.
Humanitarian action during the Cold War
The Cold War slowed the expansion of the humanitarian system
From 1945, with the end of the Second World War, a tense period of geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union began that limited the expansion of the humanitarian system for years: the Cold War. During this period, the confrontation between the two blocs constrained many humanitarian action operations.
During these years, decolonisation gave rise to the birth of many new independent nations, and development cooperation was promoted, encouraging the economic growth of less developed countries and global stability. Many NGOs grew during this period, but the political and military interests of the superpowers and their countries' governments restricted the places where they could intervene and the populations they could assist (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf.
The Biafra war marked the origin of the modern humanitarian action movements
Not all humanitarian contexts were bound by the rigidity imposed by the Cold War superpowers. One example was the Biafra war, which began in 1967 and was the scene of the first large-scale NGO humanitarian response (Brauman, 2016)Brauman, R. (2016, July 25). War and humanitarian aid. MSF CRASH. https://msf-crash.org/en/war-and-humanitarianism/war-and-humanitarian-aid.
The major powers initially treated it as an internal civil conflict, which limited the legal authority of the United Nations to intervene. However, this did not stop the NGOs. Although the Nigerian government initially opposed international aid to the secessionist republic of Biafra, an area with newly discovered oil deposits, the famine situation led NGOs such as Oxfam, Care, and the JointChurchAid coalition to intervene.
The ICRC put to the test the humanitarian principles it had just published in 1965, operating with great intensity in both Biafra and the areas recaptured by the Nigerian army. However, in 1968 this increased the tensions and operational restrictions imposed by the authorities. Following the shooting down of an ICRC aircraft in 1969, the Nigerian government banned humanitarian flights that did not remain under its strict control. The ICRC accepted this prohibition, halting much of its operations (Desgrandchamps, 2012)(Desgrandchamps, 2012). Independent NGOs, by contrast, maintained their assistance, sometimes clandestinely. In doing so, they demonstrated the capacity to intervene with direct humanitarian assistance in areas where neither the ICRC nor the United Nations were able to respond (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf.
This conflict also gave rise to the formation of two new NGOs: the Irish organisation Concern in 1967, closely identified with the famine affecting the independence-seeking population, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 1971, when doctors from the French Red Cross decided to break their vow of silence and form an organisation from which they could denounce the atrocities they were witnessing (Brauman, 2016)Brauman, R. (2016, July 25). War and humanitarian aid. MSF CRASH. https://msf-crash.org/en/war-and-humanitarianism/war-and-humanitarian-aid.
In the following decades, important advances took place, such as the study in the 1970s of the causes of famines in the Sahel and Cambodia, the initial development of early warning systems to respond rapidly and appropriately to crises, and advances in the 1980s in communication strategies and fundraising. Other NGOs were born during this period, such as Mercy Corps (in 1979, following the Cambodian genocide), Action Against Hunger (1979, in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan), and International Medical Corps (in 1984, also in Afghanistan).
The end of the Cold War and the expansion of the humanitarian system in the 1990s
In the 1990s, following the end of the Cold War in 1991, an enormous change occurred in the nature of conflicts and the dynamics of humanitarian contexts, as well as a significant transformation in humanitarian action (Davey et al., 2013)Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf.
On one hand, the new conflicts, many of them civil, now had a far greater impact on civilian populations and the political stability of the affected countries. In humanitarian crises such as those in Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Rwanda, natural disasters overlapped with political causes, violence, forced displacement, epidemic outbreaks, and hunger that disproportionately affected the civilian population, with a level of complexity that required professional, quality humanitarian interventions at scale.
On the other hand, the 1990s were also the moment when humanitarian aid managed to disengage (at least in part) from the ideological struggle of the superpowers and their influence on crises and the humanitarian system. This resulted in an expansion and professionalisation of humanitarian actors and their coordination mechanisms, an increase in humanitarian interventions in conflict zones and complex humanitarian emergencies, the integration of a human rights perspective that went beyond mere immediate assistance, the linking of emergency action with post-crisis recovery and development programmes, and a reaffirmation of humanitarian principles that ultimately favoured their application.
During this period, the humanitarian crisis in Rwanda in 1994 also took place. This has possibly been the tragedy that has most influenced subsequent reforms of the humanitarian system. The disaster exposed the political, diplomatic, and military failure of the international community and the weaknesses of a humanitarian response in which more than 200 actors participated.
References
- Anderson, M., Becknell, K., & Taliano, J. (2018). History of humanitarian emergencies. In D. Townes (Ed.), Health in humanitarian emergencies: Principles and practice for public health and healthcare practitioners (pp. 9–24). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107477261.003
- Davey, E., Borton, J., & Foley, M. (2013). A history of the humanitarian system: Western origins and foundations (HPG Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8439.pdf
- Iacobelli, T. (2021, December 10). World War I & the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller Archive Center. https://resource.rockarch.org/story/world-war-i-the-rockefeller-foundation/
- Palmieri, D. (2014, September 9). The International Committee of the Red Cross in the First World War. International Committee of the Red Cross. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-committee-red-cross-first-world-war-0
- Slim, H. (2002). Humanitarianism and the Holocaust. Journal of Holocaust Education, 10(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/714003703
- Slim, H. (2024). Solferino 21: Warfare, civilians and humanitarians in the twenty-first century (Paperback ed.). Hurst. https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/solferino-21/
- United Nations. (n.d.). History of the United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un/
How to cite this page
Abarca, B. (May 1, 2026). History of humanitarian action in the 20th century. Salud Everywhere. https://saludeverywhere.com/en/humanitarian-aid-and-international-development/history-of-humanitarian-action-in-the-20th-century/