His father was Infantry General Evgeniy Nikolaevich Kakurin (1846–1909) and his maternal uncles were Andrei Zayonchkovski and Dmitry Putyata.

In 1910, he graduated from the Imperial Nicholas Military Academy as first of his class and on 26 November 1912, he became senior adjutant of the staff of the 5th Infantry Division.

On 10 August 1916 he was appointed acting chief of staff of the 3rd Transbaikal Cossack Brigade and was part of a unit of General Baratov's Corps operating in Persia.

Between March and September 1922, he was the commander of Soviet troops in the Central-Asian Bukhara-Fergana region, and participated in the liquidation of Basmachi gangs.

In 1923 he became the head of the Department of the History of the Civil War at the Red Army Headquarters, and in 1925-1930 he worked again at the Military Academy named after Frunze.