page_title: École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Colour guard of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr in the Bastille Day 2013 military parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Français&#160;: La garde au drapeau de l'École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr lors du défilé du 14 juillet 2013 sur les Champs-Élysées à Paris.
context_page_description: The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy – often referred to as Saint-Cyr – located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany, along with the École militaire interarmes. Its motto is Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre, literally meaning "They study to vanquish" or, more freely put, "Training for victory". French cadet officers are called saint-cyriens or cyrards.
  French students who enter Saint-Cyr as cadets are about 21 years old, and undergo three years of training. All ESM cadets graduate with a master of arts or a master of science and are commissioned officers.
  The academy was founded in Fontainebleau in 1802 by Napoleon. It was moved in 1806 to the buildings of the former Maison Royale de Saint-Louis, in Saint-Cyr-l'École, west of Paris. During the Second World War, the cadets moved several times due to the German invasion. They eventually settled in 1945 in the Coetquidan military camp in Morbihan.
context_section_description: The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr was created by order of Napoleon Bonaparte on 1 May 1802 (the Law of 11 Floréal an X according to the then-official revolutionary calendar), to replace the École Royale Militaire then located in Fontainebleau. Renamed the École Spéciale Impériale Militaire after Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor, it moved in 1808 to Saint-Cyr-l'École (Yvelines) in the castle of the former Maison royale de Saint-Louis, a school for girls of the French nobility disbanded at the time of the Revolution.
  The school trained a large number of young officers and generals who served during the Napoleonic Wars, and later Napoleon III created the Prince Imperial division for family members, It remained stationed in Saint-Cyr-l'École after Napoleon's deposition and through all regime changes until 1940. After the defeat of the French Army against Germany in 1940, the school moved to the free zone, in the south of France, in Aix-en-Provence. After the invasion of the free zone by the Germans in 1942, the school was disbanded, but French cadet officer training went on, part in Cherchell (Algeria, then Free French territory) and part in the United Kingdom (Cadets de la France Libre) under General de Gaulle's command.
  At the Libération of France in 1944, the school was reunited under the command of General de Lattre de Tassigny and settled in the military camp of Coëtquidan, Morbihan, because the "vieux bahut" (old school) had been severely damaged by an Allied bombing during the Libération campaign.
  Saint-Cyr has remained there to this day. A reform in 1961 split the school into two entities: the current École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM), devoted to the training of direct-recruitment officers, recruited through an annual national competitive exam, and the École Militaire Interarmes (EMIA), cadets from internal recruitment (selected from non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks and reserve officer ranks) and added a third entity, the École Militaire du Corps Technique et Administratif (EMCTA), devoted to the formation of administrative specialist officers and generals. The school admitted its first female cadets in 1983 and underwent a minor reform in 2002 devised to broaden the diversity of its recruitment.
  Since 1802, 65,000 Saint-Cyriens have been trained, along with 2,000 international cadets. Of the French graduates 9,639 died on the field of battle. Alumni also count 11 Maréchaux de France, three French heads of state, two flying aces, six members of the Académie Française, and one Blessed of the Catholic Church.
  The school has links with the Royal Military College of Canada, United States Military Academy (West Point), and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Britain, including student exchanges.
caption: The Color guard of Saint-Cyr.
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