Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps: Some Aspects of History

This study highlights some pages of the history of the Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps/college/gymnasium. The chronology of the study: 1825–1917. The research materials were archival documents of the Joint State Archive of the Orenburg Region, as well as historiography on the history of the educational institution, including famous personalities associated with it. The methods used are historical-systemic, historical-genetic, structural-diachronic methods, as well as methods of content analysis, classification, etc. The Orenburg Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps was founded in 1825 and since then, until the 1917 revolutions, it was one of the main secondary military institutions for the nobility. Initially, the building was called a college, then a cadet corps, then a gymnasium and again a cadet corps. The institution's specificity was the narrowly focused and in-depth study of Oriental languages and culture, since Orenburg province was located on the eastern borders of the Russian Empire, and Orenburg Fortress itself was the main Russian military outpost in the region. The first head of the Cadet corps, G.F. Gens, as well as the military governor, P.P. Sukhtelen, played an outstanding role in determining the specifics of the institution. Realizing the need for high-quality military and civilian translators, as well as officials who dealt with representatives of different Turkic peoples, they immediately determined the direction of the school's activities, namely the in-depth study of Tatar, Persian and Arabic languages. Graduates of the Neplyuevsky Cadet Corps mostly became famous as commanders of the White Movement, although there were future scientists and cultural figures among the cadets. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.