Presidential Library presents collection of rare publications on history of military educational institutions in Russia

The Presidential Library has received electronic copies of historical documents from the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps. These documents tell the story of Russian military education, its graduates, and interesting facts about training and education of servicemen.

One of the oldest documents is a guide to artillery published in 1824. It was written by Major General Andrey Markevich and is dedicated to His Imperial Highnesses Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail Pavlovich. This book, which contains almost a thousand pages, describes in detail how to conduct artillery combat. The library also contains rare publications on the history of military education in Russia.

Several publications are dedicated to the First Cadet Corps, which was founded in February 1732 in St. Petersburg. The historical essay 125 Years of the First Cadet Corps: 1732-1857, published in 1857, describes how a large stone building on Vasilyevsky Island was granted for housing the corps, which at the time was considered one of the best buildings in St. Petersburg. This building had previously been the palace of Alexander Menshikov, the disgraced governor-general of St. Petersburg. Thirty years after its founding, many former students of the corps occupied important positions in the government: they led armies, sat on the Council of the Empress, and served in the Senate and collegiums.

The Memo on the St. George Cavaliers, former cadets of the First Cadet Corps (1913) talks about those whose achievements the glorious Russian army is proud of. It says that the First Cadet Corps has the great honor of inscribing on its marble tablets the names of 95 heroes who were decorated with the Order of St. George for their acts of courage and bravery.

In the Album of Portraits of Former Cadets of the First Cadet Corps, 1732-1863 (1902), images of students of this educational institution are collected. The portrait gallery begins with portraits of emperors Alexander II and Alexander III, as well as other notable figures.

Among the newly published works are publications related to the construction of fortifications. In the preface to On the Preparation of Fortresses for Underground Mine Defense Based on the Experience of Port Arthur: With Drawings in the Text (1909), Viktor Yakovlev, a military engineer, lieutenant colonel, and teacher at the Nikolaev Academy and College of Engineering, writes that "each war raises a number of questions in various branches of military affairs that prudent states, taking advantage of recent combat experience, try to resolve and implement as soon as possible to avoid repeating errors in the future that lead to sad consequences."

The story of another publication from 1974 is interesting. A group of cadets from the New York Association of Odessa Cadets has released a book to mark the 75th anniversary of their educational institution.

On the first page of the book, there is an inscription of a donation from the great-great-granddaughter of K. F. Toly Tolya-Yarychin, Tatyana, to the 8th Department of the Patriotic War of 1812 in honor of Mikhail Kutuzov. The donation was made on October 1st, 1993 in St. Petersburg.

Information about these publications are available on the Presidential Library's website, where they have been added to the collections History of Education in Russia and Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.