Suvorov Military School

The Suvorov Military Schools are a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia and Belarus for boys of 14–18. Education in these schools focuses on military related subjects. The schools are named after Alexander Suvorov, the great 18th century general.

Saint Petersburg Suvorov Military School occupies the 18th-century Vorontsov Palace on Sadovaya Street

Their naval counterparts among Russian military schools for teenagers are the Nakhimov Naval Schools. They are named after Pavel Nakhimov, the 19th century admiral.

History

The Suvorov and Nakhimov school models were created during the Second World War in December 1943 to provide boys of school age, particularly those from families of military personnel, with a secondary education specializing in military (army, navy, intelligence, etc.) subjects and training.[1] Boarding school aspect was particularly important at the time because many students were war orphans, who were either without parents or with only a surviving mother, unable to support them.

A number still exist in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The Suvorov schools in Russia are now subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces. There are schools still operating in Russia, including in Tambov, Ekaterinburg, and Kazan, and one each in Minsk (Belarus), and Transnistria. The Minsk Suvorov Military School was established in the former building of the United Belarusian Military School on 21 May 1952. The former Kiev Suvorov Military School in Ukraine was reorganized in 1992 and named after Ivan Bohun in 1998.

Carey Schofield, a British journalist with close links to the Soviet Armed Forces, wrote in 1990–91, 'it is still generally accepted that the best way for an officer to start his career is to attend one of the very smart Suvorov or Nakhimov schools, the military boarding schools.'[2] She noted that at that time, several of the original schools had closed, leaving eight Suvorov schools and a single Nakhimov school across the whole of the Soviet Union.

Harriet F. Scott and William F. Scott, in the Russian Military Directory 2004, listed Suvorov schools active at the time in Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Moscow, St.Petersburg, Vladikavkaz, Tver, Ulyanovsk, and Ussuriysk. Several Cadet Corps, a number of them recently formed, were also listed, each affiliated to a specific service branch such as the Space Forces, the Chief of Construction and Billeting, and the Signals Troops.

Starting 2016, the Defense Ministry plans to reopen the Tula SMS campus. Its new campus in Perm opened in 2014 and so is the youngest school to be opened, together with the Orenburg campus (2010) and Irtusk (also 2014). The school today offers to teenage boys preparing for service as officers in the Russian Army (or in the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces or the Ministry of Internal Affairs) secondary education and military style training in the military traditions of the nation and the spirit of its namesake.

List of schools

Armed Forces
A cadet of the Tiraspol school.

Active

Outside Russia

Inactive
  • Voronezh Suvorov Military School
  • Kuibyshev Suvorov Military School
  • Saratov Suvorov military school
  • Stavropol Suvorov Military School
  • Stalingrad Suvorov Military School
  • Tambov Suvorov Military School
  • Kiev Suvorov Military School

MVD

Active
  • Astrakhan Suvorov Military School
  • Grozny Suvorov Military School

Inactive

Legacy

Republican Special Boarding Schools

Republican Special Boarding Schools (Russian: Республиканские специальные школы-интернаты) are military schools that were created in the early 1980s on the basis of the Suvorov Military Schools. They were subordinate to the Ministry of Education of the USSR. Pupils were given a similar education as is given in the Suvorov Schools. These schools existed in the following cities:

After the collapse of the USSR, the military lyceums/high schools in the newly formed countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States were nationalized and came under the auspices of the local defense ministries.

In military culture

The Military Lyceum of the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan[3] and the Kyrgyz State National Military Lyceum[4] are often referred to as the "Suvorov School". In 2020, during the first Turkmen Victory Parade at the Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex, the students of Berdimuhamed Annayev 1st Specialized Military School wore the traditional uniforms of Suvorov Military Schools.[5]

See also

External sources

References
  1. http://www.kadet.ru/doc/Entsiklop.htm
  2. Schofield, Carey (1991). Inside the Soviet Army. Headline Book Publishing. p. 41.
  3. https://www.caravan.kz/articles/vooruzhennye-sily-tadzhikistana-vchera-i-segodnya-372452/amp/
  4. Administrator. "Кыргызский государственный национальный военный лицей - ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ КОМИТЕТ ПО ДЕЛАМ ОБОРОНЫ КЫРГЫЗСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ". www.mil.gov.kg (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  5. https://milligosun.gov.tm/habar/beyik-gahrymanlaryn-mirasduserleri-yc64rRhFlT
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