Initially, the corps was conceived for the training of the military, but due to the lack of educational institutions, it began to train civilian officials. This led to non-military disciplines being taught together with the military sciences: languages including German, French, and Latin, "oratorio" and other subjects. Teachers at school rarely explained the material, reducing learning to memorizing sections. This system changed in 1766, when
Ivan Betskoy, who headed the corps, compiled the "Charter of the Land gentry Cadet Corps for the upbringing and training of the noble Russian youth". Instead of dividing the cadets into companies, a division into five ages was introduced. Only children of 5-6 years of age were accepted, whose training was to last 15 years. The youngest age was under female supervision, and starting from the 4th age, pupils shared, "at will or by inclination", to prepare for military or civil services. Each age was divided into five sections. In these departments, both noble children and gymnasium students (children of commoners) studied together. High school students studied on an equal footing with the Cadets. In the corpus, theatrical art, dance, music were studied, while military disciplines were not among the priority ones. As a result, a situation emerged that
Semyon Vorontsov estimated as follows: A fundamental change occurred in 1794, when the corps was headed by
Mikhail Kutuzov, who reorganized according to the instructions of
Emperor Paul I. Instead of five age groups, four
musketeer and one
grenadier company were introduced. All civilian teachers were replaced by
military officers. Tactics and military history classes were introduced, for officers as well as cadets.
Names • from 1732 to 1743 – Knight Academy; • from 1743 to 1766 – Land cadet corps; • from 1766 to 1800 – the Imperial land gentry cadet corps; • from 1800 to 1863 – First Saint Petersburg Cadet Corps; • from 1864 to 1882 – the First Saint Petersburg Military Gymnasium; • from 1882 – First Saint Petersburg Cadet Corps; • from February 1917 until its dissolution in January 1918 – the First High School of the military department.
Chief Directors (General Directors) • Count
Burkhard Christoph von Münnich (December 29, 1731 – March 3, 1741) (Minich was the Chief Director of the corps; the directors were consistent with him: very briefly – Baron Luberas von Pott and Baron von Münnich (Burkhard Münnich's cousin); then – von Tetau); • Prince
Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick (March 27, 1741 – November 25, 1741); • Prince
Ludwig Wilhelm of Hesse-Homburg (December 11, 1741 – August 26, 1745); • Prince
Vasily Anikitich Repnin (August 26, 1745 – August 01, 1748); • Prince
Boris Grigoryevich Yusupov (February 19, 1750 – February 12, 1759); • Grand Duke
Peter Fedorovich (February 12, 1759 – March 14, 1762); •
Ivan Shuvalov (March 14, 1762 – 1767); • Jacob Larionovich Brandt (1767 – 1772); • Chevalier Konstantin Alexandrovich de Lascari (1772 – 1773); • Andrey Yakovlevich Purpur (1773 – 1784); • Count Anton Bogdanovich de Balmen (1784 – 1786); • Count Fedor Astafyevich Anhalt (November 8, 1786 – May 22, 1794); •
Mikhail Kutuzov (1794 – 1797); • Count Ivan Evstafevich Ferzen (December 24, 1797 – December 24, 1798); • General Andreevsky (1798 – 1799); • Lieutenant-General Matvey Ivanovich Lamzdorf (March 22, 1799 – April 12, 1800); • The Most High Prince
Platon Zubov (November 23, 1800 – 1801); • Major General
Fedor Ivanovich Klinger (since 1801); • Ivan Ivanovich Dibich (since 1811); •
Peter Andreevich Kleinmichel (1817); • Mikhail Stepanovich Persky (1820 – 1832); • Pavel Petrovich Godein (1832 – 1843); • Konstantin Antonovich Shlippenbach (1843 – 1847); • Nikolai Pavlovich Gartong (1862 – 1864); • Evgeny Karlovich Baumgarten (1864 – 1876); • Pavel Ivanovich Nosovich (1877 – 1887); • Vasily Parfenyevich Verkhovsky (1887 – January 15, 1900); •
Vasiliy Pokotilo (February 12, 1900 – December 11, 1904); • Fedor Alekseevich Grigoriev (January 8, 1905 – 1917). ==Famous graduates==