Internet and history: The Ministry of Defense of Russia has launched a historical portal on the First World War

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation together with the Federal Archival Agency (Rosarchive) has launched an Internet portal of the First World War, the presentation of the pilot version of which took place on August 1, 2014 in the press-center of MIA “Russia today”. The features of this historical project were told by the head of the Ministry of Defense of Russia to perpetuate the memory of those killed in defense of the Fatherland Andrei Taranov and the member of the development team Victor Tumarkin.

“The Ministry of Defense could not stay away from such an important and sad date, as the beginning of the First World War, which touched all Europe and ceased four empires. This war showed that lessons of history need to be available to anyone”, - noted Taranov.

The new website about the First World War is an interactive database, including military documents (both Russian and German parties), private affairs of soldiers, commanders’ memoires, as well as the largest selection of books, written on the subject. By 2018 the website will contain about 950,000 archival files, and 7.7 million cards accounting soldier and military men of that time.

In addition, anyone will be able to view specially prepared by the Ministry of Defense three-dimensional models of memoires to the fallen Russian soldiers, located through Europe. According to Taranov, a colorful design and interactive structure of the website is designed to draw much attention of the youth, who prefers gadgets to printed books.