Bucking the traditions of his social class, he enrolled in university and studied civil engineering instead of joining the military. He graduated in early 1914. however upon the outbreak of war he volunteered for the Imperial Russian Army, He trained as a cavalryman at the , in which he enrolled on 13 December 1914. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg school as a Praporshchik on 14 June 1915. His class's equestrian maneuvers had several times been disrupted by overflying aircraft spooking horses and cadets alike.
