1. The ancient-and-religious faces — the warrior codes of every civilisation (the just-war's scholastic line; the Islamic law's siyar).
2. The modern founders — Henry Dunant's Solferino experience (1859) → the ICRC's birth(1863) and the first Geneva Convention 1864 (the wounded soldiers).
3. The Hague line — the 1899-and-1907 conferences (the weapons-and-conduct codification).
4. The interwar steps — the 1925 Geneva Protocol (the gas ban); the 1929 POW convention.
5. The 1949 consolidation — the four Conventions (GC I-IV: the wounded-and-sick in the field; the wounded-and-sick at sea; the POWs; the civilians) — the ratification's universality (every state party — Nepal in 1964, the verified record).
6. The 1977 Protocols — AP I (the international conflicts' expansion: the distinction, proportionality, civilians' protection) and AP II (the non-international conflicts' first treaty) — plus AP III (2005, the red crystal emblem).
7. The modern era — the weapons treaties (the U3/U4 catalogue); the criminal enforcement's rise (U5's tribunals' line).