The Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School () was a military academy of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan. It was previously known as the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Vladimir Lenin (). It was one of the oldest military establishments of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

preparing

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

officers for the Soviet Army. The school was disbanded after former Uzbek SSR gained independence in 1991 and became the Republic of Uzbekistan. The last banner of the school was removed from the No. 1 Guard Post and deposited into the State Museum of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan.

History

TVOKU, or as it was called colloquially, the Leninsky College was founded on July 12, 1918, when the Military Commissariat of the Turkestan Soviet Republic ordered the government to organize the Turkestan Soviet command courses in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

for the training of Bolshevik commanders. On the 31st of that month, it was announced that a command school would be created in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. On September 17, 1918, the school began regular classes, which had their own ceremonial opening 5 days later. At the time, the basis of training was political indoctrination and immersion in military subjects, with tactical training being given particular attention. During the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

(known in the West as the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

), the school prepared about 8,000 commanders to fight in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

against the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Many who graduated at the time fought in the Eastern Front, including in the Battle of Moscow in 1941 and the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

in 1943. On March 28, 1957, the banners of the school, which were previously stored in the Central Museum of the Soviet Army, were delivered to the school from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. By July 1970, the school was exporting its students to other Soviet universities, as well as importing cadets from other cadet schools, which would later make up the 1st Cadet Battalion. In the 80s, graduates of the school were immediately commissioned into the Soviet Army and transferred across the Afghan border with the Uzbek SSR to participate in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. On 26 March 1993, it was reestablished by the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan just the Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School. In 2017, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, ordered that the school be reestablished as the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan.

Alumni

* Qobul Berdiyev, Uzbek military officer who formerly served as Minister of Defence of Uzbekistan. * Stanislav Hazheev, former

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

. * Albert Makashov, a

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n officer and a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician. * Pavel Pavlovich Kozlovsky, the second

of Belarus. * Esen Topoev, former Minister of Defense of Kyrgyzstan. * Valdas Tutkus, a Lithuanian general who was the 3rd

Chief of Defence A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national ...

. * Ilýa Weljanow, Turkmen general and diplomat.

References

Links

*
Alumni WebsiteТВОКУ 100 лет
{{authority control Military history of Uzbekistan History of Tashkent Education and training establishments of the Soviet Army Military academies of Uzbekistan Military command schools