Which are the toughest military training academies in the world? Military might has often been considered as the mark of a culture’s progress in history. So-called ‘weak’ rulers who worked harder on building rather than conquering were given a bad reputation. Even though the world is moving away gradually from this kind of jungle rhetoric, military might still dictate how the world runs. So it would be interesting to know about the toughest military training academies.
Some of the toughest military training academies in the world include Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, France, Japanese National Defense Academy, and Indian National Defense Academy. The famous military strategist, Napoleon Bonaparte, established the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr. To get into the school, students need to clear a competitive exam that tests their general knowledge and intelligence level. They also need to clear a physical examination of their fitness. The academy is open to both domestic and international students. Completing the three-year course will leave the student with a Master’s degree and a Lieutenant’s rank!
The Japanese National Defense Academy is similarly tough. It was founded in 1953 at Yokosuka and is geared towards training students for serving in the Japanese army, navy, or air force. The university level course is four years duration and students are actually paid during their training.
The Indian National Defense Academy is the world’s first tri-service training academy and was established in 1954, eight years after the country’s independence. The admission procedures are rigorous and out of the 4,50,000 students who write the entrance exam, only 6,000 are interviewed. After physical and psychological assessments, only 300 applicants are finally accepted into the program. The training covers a period of three years.
There are other tough military academies on our list too! Military toughness can be difficult to gauge. What passes for toughness in one part of the world might be considered cruelty in another. Toughness is a subjective quality and hence can be interpreted in different ways, depending on your own outlook on life. So for creating our list, we decided to use a couple of factors and aggregate them to get the level of toughness training of a specific academy. These factors include prestige of the academy and the military might of the country.
