The educational institution traces its history back to the Artillery School of the Imperial Russian Army, which was opened in St. Petersburg at the initiative of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich in 1820.

Its Soviet era headquarters was at Kitayskiy Proyezd 9/5, within a block of the Rossiya Hotel off Red Square,[3] with other sources also stating that it was based in the historical building of the Moscow Orphanage.

In August 1997, President Boris Yeltsin, in a decree which outlined the need "to revive the historical traditions of the Russian Army and taking into account the exceptional merits of Peter the Great in the creation of a regular army", order the renaming of the academy after Tsar/Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great.

Students of the academy become upon graduation the basis of the officer corps of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Soviet Union and Russia.

The Strategic Missile Forces Academy has a training center located in the town of Balabanovo, Kaluga Region.