The Role of Military Preparatory Educational Institutions in the Development of National Military Formations of the Red Army in Central Asia and Kazakhstan in the 1920s

In the 1920s, one of the most difficult tasks was to equip military educational institutions with representatives of indigenous nationalities, especially in Central Asia, where up to 90 % of conscripts were illiterate. Due to the poor general education level of those entering military educational institutions, special schools were established in a number of Soviet republics for teenagers to receive the general education training necessary for admission to national military educational institutions. In Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Bukhara Military Labor School (since 1926 - the Uzbek Military Preparatory School) operated to solve this problem, as well as preparatory departments at the United Kazakh Military School named after the Central Executive Committee of the Kazakh Republic and the United Military School of Central Asian Nationalities. These educational institutions existed until 1929-1931. The article describes the features of organization of the educational process in military schools, highlights the difficulties encountered in their functioning. A special role in the creation of military preparatory schools was played by I. E. Yakir, the head of the Department of Military Educational Institutions of the Red Army in 1924-1925. It is concluded that military preparatory schools were ineffective and could not play a significant role in the recruitment of military schools and the formation of national military units.