A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.
Different types of academy exist: for example, pre-collegiate-level institutions awarding academic qualifications, university-level institutions awarding bachelor's-degree-level qualifications, and those preparing officer cadets for commissioning into the armed services of the state.
History
The first military academies were established in the 17th century to provide future officers for technically specialized corps, such as military engineers and artillery, with scientific training.
The Royal Military and Mathematics Academy of Brussels (La Academia Militar de Bruselas), also known as the Academia Militar del Ejército de los Países Bajos, was the first modern military academy in Europe, established in 1675 at the capital of the Habsburg Netherlands, Brussels, at the request of Carlos de Aragón de Gurrea, 9th Duke of Villahermosa, Governor and Captain General of the Spanish Netherlands, by its sole-director, Sebastián Fernández de Medrano, with the authority and royal order of Charles II of Spain. The Academy was founded to codify and enact Medrano's military scientific doctrine, successfully addressing the critical shortage of artillerymen and military engineers in the Spanish Tercio. It is recognized as the first formal project of general military training in Europe and served as the institutional forerunner to later Royal Military Academies in Barcelona, Ceuta, Oran, and the General Military Academy.
The Italian Military Academy was inaugurated in Turin on January 1, 1678, as the Savoy Royal Academy, making it one of the oldest military academies in existence after the Royal Military and Mathematics Academy in Brussels. The Royal Danish Naval Academy was set up in 1701. The Royal Military Academy, Woolwich was set up in 1741, after a false start in 1720 because of a lack of funds, as the earliest military academy in Britain. Its original purpose was to train cadets entering the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. In France, the École Royale du Génie at Mézières was founded in 1748, followed by a non-technical academy in 1751, the École Royale Militaire offering a general military education to the nobility. French military academies were widely copied in Prussia, Austria, Russia. The Norwegian Military Academy in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway.
By the turn of the century, under the impetus of the Napoleonic Wars and the strain that the armies of Europe subsequently came under, military academies for the training of commissioned officers of the army were set up in most of the combatant nations. These military schools had two functions: to provide instruction for serving officers in the functions of the efficient staff-officer, and to school youngsters before they gained an officer's commission. The Kriegsakademie in Prussia was founded in 1801 and the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr was created by order of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 as a replacement for the École Royale Militaire of the Ancien Régime (the institution that Napoleon himself had graduated from).
The Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England was the brainchild of John Le Marchant in 1801, who established schools for the military instruction of officers at High Wycombe and Great Marlow, with a grant of £30,000 from Parliament. The two original departments were later combined and moved to Sandhurst.
In the United States, the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York was founded on March 16, 1802, and is one of five service academies in the country.
Types
Pre-collegiate institutions
A military school teaches children of various ages (elementary school, middle school or high school) in a military environment which includes training in military aspects, such as drill. Many military schools are also boarding schools, and others are simply magnet schools in a larger school system. Many are privately run institutions, though some are public and are run either by a public school system (such as the Chicago Public Schools) or by a state.
Adult institutions
A college-level military academy is an institute of higher learning of things military. It is part of a larger system of military education and training institutions. The primary educational goal at military academies is to provide a high quality education that includes significant coursework and training in the fields of military tactics and military strategy. The amount of non-military coursework varies by both the institution and the country, and the amount of practical military experience gained varies as well.
Military academies may or may not grant university degrees. In the US, graduates have a major field of study, earning a Bachelor's degree in that subject just as at other universities. However, in British academies, the graduate does not achieve a university degree, since the whole of the one-year course (undertaken mainly but not exclusively by university graduates) is dedicated to military training.
Graduates from national academies are typically commissioned as officers in the country's military. The new officers usually have an obligation to serve for a certain number of years. In some countries (e.g. Britain) all military officers train at the appropriate academy, whereas in others (e.g. the United States) only a percentage do and the service academies are seen as institutions which supply service-specific officers within the forces (about 15 percent of US military officers).
State or private-run academy graduates have no requirement to join the military after graduation, although some schools have a high rate of graduate military service. Today, most of these schools have ventured away from their military roots and now enroll both military and civilian students. The only exception in the United States is the Virginia Military Institute which remains all-military.
Albania
Armed Forces Academy
Angola
Army Military Academy
National Air Force Academy
Naval Academy
Argentina
Argentine Army:
Colegio Militar de la Nación (National Military College), in El Palomar, Buenos Aires (northwestern outskirts of Buenos Aires)
Argentine Navy:
Escuela Naval Militar (Naval Military School), in Río Santiago, Buenos Aires (in Ensenada, near La Plata)
Argentine Air Force:
Escuela de Aviación Militar (Military Aviation School), in the city of Córdoba
Armenia
National Defense Research University
Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy
Armenak Khanperyants Military Aviation University
Australia
Australian Defence Force Academy
Royal Australian Naval College
Royal Military College, Duntroon
Officers' Training School RAAF
Austria
Theresian Military Academy
Landesverteidigungsakademie
Azerbaijan
War College of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces
Azerbaijan Higher Military Academy
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Military Academy
Bangladesh Naval Academy
Bangladesh Air Force Academy
National Defence College
Belarus
Military Academy of Belarus
Border Guard Service Institute of Belarus
Ministry of the Interior Academy of the Republic of Belarus
Belgium
Royal Military Academy (Belgium)
Bolivia
Military College of Bolivia (Colegio Militar del Ejército de Bolivia)
Bolivian Military Naval Academy
Bolivian Air Force Academy