A Cadet corps (russian: Кадетский корпус, translit=Kadetskiy korpus), historically an admissions-based all-boys military cadets school, prepared boys to become commissioned officers in Imperial Russia. Boys entered a cadet corps between the ages of 8 and 15.

History

Empress Anna Ivanovna founded the first cadet corps in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, in 1731. The term of education was seven years. All instructors had a military rank; they taught a full program of military preparation. In 1766 Catherine the Great's educational reforms broadened the curriculum to include the sciences, philosophy, ethics, history, and international law. A graduate from the corps became a

junker Junker ( da, Junker, german: Junker, nl, Jonkheer, en, Yunker, no, Junker, sv, Junker ka, იუნკერი (Iunkeri)) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German ''Juncherre'', meaning "young nobleman"Duden; Meaning of Junke ...

and had prime candidacy for a military career. During the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

and the 1917-1923

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, cadets and junkers largely supported the anti-bolshevik White movement. (Distinguish the military cadets of this era from the members of the

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (russian: Конституцио́нно-демократи́ческая па́ртия, translit=Konstitutsionno-demokraticheskaya partiya, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of P ...

, known from its initials (KD) as ''Kadets''. The Constitutional Democratic Party also opposed Bolshevism.) A small portion of cadets succeeded in evacuating with the White Army towards the end of Russian Civil War to western countries. Many cadets who escaped alive formed cadet corps in other countries, most notably at Bela Crkva in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

, where they received the patronage of King

Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I ( sr-Cyrl, Александар I Карађорђевић, Aleksandar I Karađorđević, ) ( – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier, was the prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later the King of Yu ...

(reigned 1921–1934) - himself a former pupil in the Saint Petersburg

Page Corps The Page Corps (russian: Пажеский корпус; french: Corps des Pages) was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service. Similarly, the Imperial School of Jurispr ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

a number of

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik commun ...

ex-cadets joined the Axis-sponsored Russian Corps (founded in 1941) in Yugoslavia and the Guard of the general A.A.Vlasow (ROA), seeing it as a means of continuing the battle against the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

régime. After

ended in 1945, with the emigration of cadets to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and Australia, White émigré cadet corps ceased to function. A cadet union was formed to unite the graduates of the cadet corps.

Modern era

After the fall of the USSR in 1991, cadet corps were re-established in Russia by veterans of the armed forces and descendants of cadet corps graduates. These now educate both boys and girls, with several units named after Soviet

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

heroes as well as after Russian military heroes through the centuries. These Cadet Corps and Cadet Schools, found in various Russian cities, aim towards preparing children for service not just in the Russian Armed Forces but also in the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, the

National Guard of Russia The National Guard of the Russian Federation (russian: Федеральная служба войск национальной гвардии Российской Федерации , translit = Federal'naya sluzhba voysk natsional'noy gvard ...

, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Investigative Committee of Russia and the Federal Security Service (FSB). One cadet corps prepares teens for service in the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

; the Moscow Diplomatic Cadet Corps educates those inclined towards future careers in the diplomatic services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Traditionally, the Ground Forces-affiliated cadets use the regular army field uniform, but with the own sleeve insignias and the letters "KK" on the shoulder boards, but dress uniforms differ. There are also Cossack cadet corps in existence as well.

Cadets educational establishments in the USSR and Russia

Mainstream corps

* Suvorov Military School *

Nakhimov Naval School The Nakhimov Naval School (russian: Нахимовское военно-морское училище) or Nakhimov School (russian: Нахимовское училище) is a form of military education for teenagers introduced in the Soviet Unio ...

* Ministry of Defense of Russia Girls Boarding School *

Kronstadt Sea Cadet Corps The Kronstadt Sea Cadet Corps () is a military boarding school of the Russian Navy. History The corps follows the traditions maintained by the original Russian cadet corps in the Imperial Russian Navy. The process of its creation began on 25 Ap ...

* Moscow National Guard Presidential Cadets School * Moscow National Pensions School Cadet Corps *Moscow Cadet Corps of the Investigative Committee of Russia

Cossack corps

* Astrakhan Cossack Cadet Corps * Shakhty Cossack Cadet Corps * Aksanskiy Cossack Cadet Corps * Aksai Cossack Cadet Corps * Novorossiysk Cossack cadet corps * Crimean Cossack Cadet Corps * Kuban Cossack Cadet Corps * Yeysk Cossack Cadet Corps{{Cite web, title=Transferable Presidential banner presented to top-performing Cossack Cadet Corps, url=http://en.kremlin.ru/events/administration/64263, access-date=2020-11-13, website=President of Russia, language=en

Other corps

* Saint Petersburg Rocket Artillery Cadet Corps * St. Petersburg Cadet Corps *Governor's Cadet Boarding School of the Ministry of Emergencies, Kemerovo *Siberian Aviation Cadet Corps named after Alexander Pokryshkin Novosibirsk *Achinsk Cadet Corps, Krasnoyarsk Territory * Mountain Cadet Corps * Ulan-Ude Cadet Corps * First Moscow Cadet Corps * Military Space Peter the Great Cadet Corps,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

* Military Technical Cadet Corps, Togliatti * Pupils of Inmates * Irkutsk Guards Cadet Corps of Strategic Missile Forces * Voronezh Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich Cadet Corps * Moscow Justice Cadet Corps * Moscow Cadet Corps named after Marshal Zhukov * Karelian Cadet Corps named after Alexander Nevsky * Ufa Airborne Cadet Corps named after Musa Gareev * Don Emperor Alexander III Cadet Corps,

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known ...

* Moscow Cadet Music Corps * St. Petersburg Cadet Course of the Federal Protective Service

References

Military schools in Russia Russian military youth groups