Jānis Balodis father was historian and teacher Voldemārs Balodis. In 1898 he joined the Imperial Russian Army and served in Kaunas. From 1900 until 1902 he studied at the Vilnius War School. From November 1904 until July 1905 he participated in the Russo–Japanese War and was seriously wounded in the arm. From 1906 until 1914 Balodis served in Vilnius. At the beginning of World War I he was lightly wounded during the battles in East Prussia, for which he received a number of decorations. On 20 February 1915, while recuperating in hospital, he was captured by the German Army and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Silesia.