Military education in the Soviet Union

There existed an evolved system of military education in the Soviet Union that covered a wide range of ages.

Late Soviet Union

All able-bodied males obtained basic and specialized military training during obligatory 2-3 year male draft.

Suvorov Military Schools for boys of 14-17 (established in 1943) delivered education in military subjects. Nakhimov Naval Schools were similar to the Suvorov ones, specializing in Navy subjects.

All able-bodied male students of universities and many other institutions of higher education were subject to training at the Military Chairs (voyennnaya kafedra) to become reservist officers.

Soviet military academies provided higher education to higher officers and officers of specialized kinds of armed force (engineering, medical, etc.).

There also existed schools for under-officers and sergeants, often part of the draft service for distinguished soldiers, as a step towards the professional military career.

Reservists were subject to periodic training exercises of duration 2-6 weeks once in several years.

Soviet professional military education was also available for persons from the Soviet satellite states and from the perceived Soviet sphere of influence among the Third World countries.

Civilians could receive military-related training in military-support organizations DOSAAF and OSOAVIAKHIM.

List of academies

• Kiev Naval Political College/Academy

Further reading

• "The Educating of Armies", by Michael Dawson Stephens (1989) ISBN 0-333-43447-1 (about philosophy and practice of the training of soldiers in Britain, America, Cuba, the USSR, China, Indonesia, Israel and Sweden.)
• Christina F. Shelton, "The Soviet Military Education System for Commissioning and Training Officers", a bibliographical description and a link to the document in PDF format