Kuibyshev was born on 25 December 1893 in Kokshetau, the son of an army officer. He was future Soviet politician Valerian Kuibyshev's younger brother. Kuibyshev graduated from the Omsk Cadet Corps in 1912 and entered the Alexandrov Military School in Moscow. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Kuibyshev was prematurely discharged from the school and joined the Russian Imperial Army with the rank of Second lieutenant. He served with the 10th Malorossiya Grenadier Regiment as a company and then battalion commander. Kuibyshev was wounded three times during the war and after the February Revolution of 1917 was elected a member of the regimental committee. In November 1917, he became the regimental adjutant with the rank of captain.