Junker schools

Until the mid-1860s, military schools provided only about a third of the total number of officers needed for the Russian army, and therefore the corps of officers was mostly staffed with the production of volunteer and non-commissioned officers who served a certain period and passed a very easy exam ^[1] .

The unsatisfactory training of this part of the officers became clear even before the Crimean War, and then at some headquarters, on the private initiative of military commanders, cadet schools were opened ^[1] .

At the end of the Crimean War of 1853-1856. it was proposed to establish cadet schools in all army corps, but, due to lack of funds and inconvenience of organizing military schools with corps headquarters moving with troops from place to place, only three such schools were opened ^[1] .

Only with the transformation of the upper classes of the cadet corps into military schools, in 1864-1865. district cadet schools began to open in the newly formed military districts ; Passing the course of cadet schools was made mandatory for all volunteers (and since 1875 - for lots) who wished to acquire the right to be promoted to officers, and from 1868 the production of lower ranks as officers for long service was stopped ^[1] .

In the cadet schools, the lower ranks of all classes and confessions (except for the Jewish ) were accepted, with honoring them to that by the immediate superiors. The course in schools lasted 2 years, and those who had certificates of graduation from secondary schools (7- and 8-grade gymnasiums and real schools) could go directly to the senior class, but most went to the younger class or with a verification exam in the Russian language (past 6 classes of secondary schools), or with an exam for special lite programs (not having this qualification) ^[1] .

Those who graduated from the course were sent to their regiments by ensigns , standard junkers, and under -prisoners and were promoted to officers only on honoring the immediate superiors: they were assigned as officers in science in the very year they graduated from the college, after camp fees, and in the case of lack of vacancies in their regiment could be transferred to other regiments; assigned to the II category were made to officers not earlier than in the year following the graduation, as well as only for vacancies, and during production it was allowed to transfer to other parts only those who had an education not lower than secondary. In the total number of schools graduating from the south, graduates of the I category made up a very insignificant percentage, and the majority of those graduated from the II category did not have the required educational qualifications and for many years they had been waiting for the rank of ensign of production as officers for vacancies in their part, reaching the rank of ensign (later lieutenant ) then, when their peers for graduating from military schools managed to go far ahead along the path of a career ^[1] .

If the ensigns mostly graduated from cadet schools by their official training and knowledge of the life of lower ranks exceeded officers who graduated from military schools, then they were significantly inferior to them in their general education and theoretical military training, as a result of which the infantry and cavalry forces were divided into two groups - graduated from military and cadet schools; the latter were appointed to senior positions of commanders of individual units relatively rarely and usually ended their careers with the rank of lieutenant colonel ^[1] .

At the beginning of the 20th century, new schools were established to eliminate this heterogeneity in the corps of officers and to improve the general training of officers — the Moscow and Kiev infantry schools (in 1900) and the Elizavetgrad cavalry schools (in 1902), for young people with higher and secondary general education; expanded the staff of military schools, henceforth appointed exclusively for pupils of the cadet corps (the number of corps has been significantly increased, and their staff has been expanded), finally, in 1901 all the district schools of the south were transformed ^[1] .

As of June 5, 1901, 7 infantry schools ( St. Petersburg , Vilnius , Tiflis , Odessa , Kazan , Chuguev and Irkutsk ), 1 cavalry ( Tver ) and 3 Cossack ( Novocherkassk , Stavropol and Orenburg ) Junker schools were formed, and they were not called more ; each school has a staff of 100 (in Irkutsk) to 400 (in St. Petersburg, Vilnius and Tiflis) cadets , which are divided in combat units into companies, squadrons and hundreds ^[1] .

The training course increased to three years and was divided into 3 classes - 1 general and 2 special. For admission to schools were allowed:

1) young people of all classes who have reached 16 years of age and who have the right to enter the service of volunteers

2) the lower ranks of all classes, honored by the authorities.

The following were accepted to the general class: those who did not complete the course of 6 classes of gymnasiums and real schools, to hold the entrance exam for special programs from the course of 6 classes, and those who graduated from 6 classes, but did not have the right to enter military schools (where completion of the full course is required), - with an exam in Russian; in the first special class are accepted: without an exam - people who have the right to enter military schools, and with a verification exam in Russian, mathematics and physics - people who have completed 6 classes; exams are held in the month of August and applicants are accepted according to the seniority of the points received, and the main headquarters, in terms of the number of available vacancies, determines in advance how many young people of one or another category of education can be accepted at schools ^[1] .

The general class served to supplement secondary education ; it teaches the Law of God , Russian, mathematics , physics , chemistry , geography , history , hygiene , drawing and one of the foreign languages ; some of these subjects ended already in special classes ^[1] .

Of special military subjects, the programs were taught in almost the same way as in military schools, tactics , military history , topography , fortification , artillery , military administration, law , military geography and military regulations , and in cavalry and Cossack schools, in addition, equestrian engineering and hippology ^[1] .

There were 27 lessons per week (50 minutes each); in addition, practical exercises were established on tactics, topographic drafting, military administration, law and equestrian engineering, as well as weapons training in workshops ^[1] .

In the summer, cadets were taken to camps, where, regardless of drill exercises, they were engaged in military-eye surveys in the field, solving tactical tasks, and sapper works ^[1] .

Those who completed the full course according to the results of final exams, combat training and behavior were divided into 3 categories and were promoted to officers on the same grounds as the cadets of military schools, but exclusively to infantry and cavalry units; the first category was issued by sub-lieutenants and corners with one year of seniority, the second category - by the same ranks without seniority, the third category - non-commissioned officers with the right to be promoted to officers without an examination, but not earlier than a year later and no more than on the request of military commanders ^{[ 1]} .

All cadet schools were under the jurisdiction of the chief commanders of military districts and were subordinate to the chiefs of district headquarters; the highest supervision of the educational unit in all schools belonged to the chief director of military educational institutions, and for the special cavalry case to the inspector general of the cavalry ^[1] .

• Bobrovsky I. O., "Junker Schools" (3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1872–76);
• Lykoshin A.S. ,. Junker schools // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• “Regulations on the Cadet Schools” (new edition, art. 892, 993 book. XV of the Code of military regulations of 1869, ed. 2)
• Instructions for training and educational units, announced in orders on the military department, 1901, No. 197, 318 and 319.