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Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia

Coordinates: 55°38′59.28″N 37°28′26.37″E / 55.6498000°N 37.4739917°E / 55.6498000; 37.4739917
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Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Военная академия Генерального штаба Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации
Academy of the General Staff on Vernadskogo prosp., 100
TypeMilitary college
Established1936
FounderRed Army
DirectorVladimir Zarudnitsky
Address
Vernadskogo Prospekt 100, Moscow
,
Moscow
,
Russia

55°38′59.28″N 37°28′26.37″E / 55.6498000°N 37.4739917°E / 55.6498000; 37.4739917
Websitehttp://vagsh.mil.ru/
Official banner of the Academy

The Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Russian: Военная академия Генерального штаба Вооруженных сил Российской Федерации) is the senior staff college of the Russian Armed Forces.

The academy is located in Moscow, on 14 Kholzunova Lane. It was founded in 1936 as a Soviet institution, based on higher command courses that had been established at the M. V. Frunze Military Academy, itself founded in 1918. An earlier General Staff Academy had existed during the Imperial period, since 1832.

Students were, and probably still are, admitted to the Academy in the ranks of lieutenant colonel, colonel, and General-Major (one star). Most were colonels or newly promoted generals. Officers enter in their late 30s, as a general rule. Officers selected for this academy would have first attended the appropriate service or branch academy (see Military academies in Russia). Graduates who were not already generals or admirals usually were promoted to this rank a short time after completing the course. Length of the academy was only two years, in contrast to the three years for the branch and service academies.

Faculty and students of the General Staff Academy were involved in debates over Soviet military restructuring in the last years of the USSR. They became associated with the military reform efforts of Major Vladimir Lopatin and made specific suggestions for deep force reductions.[1]

As of 22 November 2017, Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky has been the chief of the academy.[citation needed]

History

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Precursors

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The existence of a general staff academy for the Russian military dates back to the Imperial period, with the founding of the Imperial Military Academy in Saint Petersburg in 1832, and its official opening on 8 December [O.S. 26 November] 1832.[2] In 1855 the academy was renamed the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff, commemorating Emperor Nicholas I, who had died that year.[2] Further renamings followed, to the Nikolaev Military Academy in 1909, the Imperial Nikolaev Military Academy in 1910, and back to the Nikolaev Military Academy in 1917. Following the Russian Revolutions, the Nikolaev Military Academy functioned in support of the White Army, being evacuated to territory held by Admiral Alexander Kolchak. With the defeat of the White cause in the Russian Civil War, the academy ceased to exist in 1921, with its final graduation held in Vladivostok at the end of that year.[2]

In the meantime a new academy had been established by the Red Army, in light of its early experiences during the first stages of the Civil War, which had demonstrated the inadvisability of entrusting battlefield commands to former workers and soldiers who had little experience of tactics or of leading men.[3] On 7 October 1918 the Revolutionary Military Council ordered the foundation of the General Staff Academy of the Red Army, based in Moscow.[3] The first intake of students, who joined on 25 November that year, numbered 183, with the official opening of the academy taking place on 8 December 1918.[3] In August 1921 this became the Military Academy of the Red Army, with the focus on training personnel in tactical warfare.[2] Additional nine-month courses were established to provide operational-strategic command training, termed the Higher Military Academic Courses, which from 1931 became one-year-long courses as part of the academy's Faculty of Operations.[2] These courses became the basis of the creation of a new General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces [ru], and in 1936 a new staff college was created, split from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy, as the Military Academy of the Red Army had been known since 1925.[2][3]

Soviet General Staff Academy

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The academy trained large numbers of senior commanders and staff officers prior to, and during, the Second World War. From 1941 it became the K. E. Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army, and in April 1942 it was named the K. Е. Voroshilov Higher Military Academy, and in 1958 the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.[2] It became the K. E. Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1969.[4]

Russian General Staff Academy

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With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the academy became part of the Russian Armed Forces, and since 1992 has been the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.[2]

Assembly hall of the academy
Graduate badge until 1992
Gold medal for the excellent graduates 1950

Awards

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Notable faculty

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Notable alumni

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Chiefs since 1936

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Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky with Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu on 17 April 2023

References

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  1. ^ William E Odom, The Collapse of the Soviet Military, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1998
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "История академии". Военная академия Генерального штаба Вооруженных Сил Российской Федерации (in Russian). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "История". Военный учебно-научный центр Сухопутных войск «Общевойсковая ордена Жукова академия Вооруженных Сил Российской Федерации» (in Russian). Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  4. ^ Scott & Scott. The Armed Forces of the USSR. pp. 354–5.
  5. ^ "Министр обороны вручил орден Кутузова Военной академии Генерального штаба Вооруженных сил России". Министерство обороны Российской Федерации. 2015-06-19. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  6. ^ Академия Генерального штаба (General Staff Academy). – М., Военное издательство, 1987. с. 242.
  7. ^ Академия Генерального штаба. – М., Военное издательство, 1987. с. 243.
  8. ^ Scott and Scott, Russian Military Directory 2004, p.194
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