Founded 1842 in Charleston, South Carolina, The Citadel has molded young men from the North and the South to lead the battles for the United States. Citadel graduates have taken part in every major war waged by the United States, including the Civil War where Citadel cadets fired the first shots of the war at the U.S. steamer "Star of the West," on Morris Island, and the last shots at Fort Sumter. Over its long history, around 615 Citadel graduates have fallen in battles around the world.
Founded in 1741, the Royal Military Academy acquired the East India Company's Military Seminary in 1809. Sandhurst has gone through many changes in the past 260 years. It started as a school for training "Gentleman Cadets" whose parents paid to have their sons educated in military matters. In 1870, Sandhurst raised its age requirements, allowing young men into the school, yet failed to change the rules intended for schoolboys. In 1862 a cadet battalion mutinied and captured an earthworks used for training, where they fended off a three-day siege before surrendering to the commander in charge.
Many of the most famous military leaders in American history hailed from the United States Military Academy at West Point: Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and Douglas MacArthur along with Dwight D. Eisenhower are just a few of the famous leaders to graduate from West Point. "The Princeton Review" ranked West Point No. 3 in the nation in the category of "Campus Activities." Facilities include a golf course, a skating rink, and a ski slope. Competitive sports is a requirement for each cadet.
In 1842, the "Somers" was on a training cruise. Discipline slipped beyond the control of her skipper, and a midshipman named Philip Spencer along with two others, boatswains mate Samuel Cromwell and seaman Elisha Small, incited a mutiny for which they were later hanged. In the wake of this scandal, the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, was founded in 1850. New curriculum was established where midshipmen would study at the academy during the school year and train on ships during the summer. Today, Annapolis has a much more sophisticated curriculum, which is encompassed in its four-year program of study.
Founded in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Saint-Syr became the French Army's military academy. It serves the same purpose as that of Sandhurst in England or the United States Military Academy at West Point. Special attention is paid to the learning of at least one foreign language at Saint-Syr in order to increase cadets' understanding of other cultures.