On this day 40 years ago, on December 19, 1985 (November 8, 1985 lunar calendar), the National Defense University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was established. On December 19, 1985, the People's Daily reported that with the approval of the State Council and the Central Military Commission, the National Defense University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the highest military institution in our country, was established in Beijing. Chairperson of the Central Military Commission Deng Xiaoping signed an order appointing Zhang Zhen as the president of the National Defense University and Li Desheng as a political commissar. The National Defense University was established on the basis of merging the three colleges of military, politics and logistics to meet the requirements of modern warfare and the needs of our army's streamlining and reorganization. It is based on the strategic principle of active defense, facing modernization, facing the world, and facing the future. It strives to become a contract command university that is in line with our country's national conditions and has the characteristics of our army. It is both a teaching center and a scientific research center. The National Defense University is directly under the leadership of the Central Military Commission. It consists of the Department of National Defense Studies, the Department of Basic Studies, the Department of Advanced Studies, the Graduate School and the Institute of Strategic Studies, the Institute of Marxism, and the Institute of Army Construction. The basic task is to train command cadres of the army, sea, and air forces above the army, senior staff officers, senior theoretical researchers, and senior leading cadres of relevant government departments. It also engages in research on issues such as strategy and national defense modernization, and plays an advisory role in the decision-making of the highest military organs. The National Defense University will implement reforms in the Change the previous method of training military, political, and post-cadre cadres separately, and adopt land, sea, air, military, political, and post-cadre mixed classes to set up departments for unified training; the Department of National Defense Studies will not only recruit senior military leaders, but also recruit senior leaders from relevant government departments to study national defense construction issues; the curriculum strives to achieve a high starting point, new content, and wide knowledge, and implement a elimination system in student status management. In this way, it is conducive to training the admitted cadres to become well-informed and versatile, with strategic thinking and contract combat command ability, and able to fully command military, political, and logistical work.