Cadet Corps

History

Empress Anna Ivanovna founded the first cadet corps in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, in 1731. The term of education was seven years. All instructors had a military rank; they taught a 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 and had prime candidacy for a military career.

During the October Revolution and the 1917-1923 Russian Civil War, 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, 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, where they received the patronage of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (reigned 1921–1934) - himself a former pupil in the Saint Petersburg Page Corps.

During World War II a number of White émigré 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 régime.

After World War II ended in 1945, with the emigration of cadets to the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Australia, White émigré cadet corps ceased to function.

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 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, the National Guard of Russia, 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; 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.

Cadets educational establishments in the USSR and Russia

Mainstream corps

Suvorov Military School

Nakhimov Naval School

Ministry of Defense of Russia Girls Boarding School

Kronstadt Sea Cadet Corps

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

Don Cadet Corps, Novocherkassk

Novorossiysk Cossack cadet corps

Crimean Cossack Cadet Corps

Kuban Cossack Cadet Corps

Yeysk Cossack Cadet Corps

Starodub Cossack Cadet Corps

Other corps

Saint Petersburg Rocket Artillery Cadet Corps

St. Petersburg Cadet Corps

Krasnoyarsk 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

Military Technical Cadet Corps, Togliatti

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

Moscow Cadet Music Corps

St. Petersburg Cadet Course of the Federal Protective Service