Page Corps

Page Corps (Russian: Пажеский корпус) (French: Corps des Pages) was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service. (The Imperial School of Jurisprudence prepared boys for civil service). While not established until 1943, the modern equivalent of the Page Corps and other Imperial military academies can be said to be the Suvorov Military Schools.

The Page Corps was founded in 1759 in St. Petersburg as a school for teaching and training pages and chamber pages. In light of the need for properly trained officers for the Guard units, the Page Corps was reorganized in 1802 into an educational establishment similar to cadet schools, which would accept the sons of the hereditary nobility of Russian land, and the sons of at least Lieutenant Generals/Vice Admirals or grandsons of full Generals/Admirals.

In 1802, the curriculum of the Corps des Pages was also changed, thereafter based on the ideals of the Order of St John. In 1810, the school was moved to the palace of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem, also known as Vorontsov Palace. It continued at this location in St. Petersburg for over one hundred years (until the revolution).

During the period of reforms of military schools in the 1860s, the Page Corps was turned into a seven-grade establishment, the first five grades being similar to military gymnasiums, and the other two being modelled after military colleges.

Beginning in 1885, the Page Corps had seven general classes, where students learned the same sciences offered by cadet schools, and two special classes, where they were taught military science and jurisprudence. By the 1880s, separate infantry, cavalry and artillery departments were in existence. The Corps des Pages, as it was generally referred to in pre-Revolutionary Russia, was the only military academy (out of about twenty) to prepare future officers for all arms. The others were devoted to specialized training for cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, cossacks, topographical studies etc.

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