Cavalry

thumb|upright=1.35|4th Hussar Regiment (France)|French 4th Hussars at the [[Battle of Friedland, 1807]]

thumb|Painting of two British light dragoons in 1809 during the [[Peninsular War]]

thumb|Historical reenactment of a Sasanian-era cataphract, complete with a full set of [[scale armour for the horse. The rider is covered by extensive mail armour.]]

thumb|Polish uhlans from the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, 1807–1815, [[January Suchodolski painting]] Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started with the tartars in the Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Poland, France, Russia, Prussia, Saxony, and Austria. The term "lancer" was often used interchangeably with "uhlan"; the lancer regiments later formed for the British Army were directly inspired by the uhlans of other armies (even though they were never known by that

thumb|212px|French cuirassier (1809)

thumb|upright=1.20|Polish Lancer (left) and Austrian Cuirassier (right) in a mêlée A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used for mounted warfare in Assyria as early as and subsequently by India, Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The weapon was widely used throughout Eurasia during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by heavy cavalry, but fell out of general use by the late 16th century, before its revival by light cavalry in the early 19th century. Lance cavalry remained in an active role into the early 20th century and World War I. In modern times, many

soldiers who are highly mobile engaging in both direct and indirect combat on horseback

thumb|Tachankas turret used in WWI.|alt= thumb|Tachanka armed with a PM M1910 in the [[Huliaipole museum]]

archery from horseback

Type of soldier that engages in direct combat on horseback

expert mounted archery while fleeing

thumb|367x367px|Napoleonic French Carabinier, 1810 thumb|300px|right|Spanish Carabiniers in the Pyrenees, 1892.

combat formation of infantry

use of equines in combat

right|thumb|Hakkapeliitta featured on a 1940 semi-postal Finnish postage stamp thumb|Finnish cavalry crossing the river Lech in the Battle of Rain, Thirty Years' War, 1632. [[Matthias Merian in Danckerts Historis, 1642.]] Hakkapeliitta (Finnish ) is a historiographical term used for a Finnish light cavalryman in the service of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648). is a 19th-century Finnish modification of a contemporary name given by foreigners in the Holy Roman Empire and variously spelled as Hackapelit, Hackapelite, Hackapell, Haccapelit, or Haccapelit

thumb|A 12th century turcopole, historical re-enactment During the Crusades, turcopoles (also "turcopoles" or "turcopoli"; from the , literally "sons of Turks"; singular: τουρκόπουλος) were locally recruited mounted archers and light cavalry employed by the Byzantine Empire and the Crusader states. A leader of these auxiliaries was designated as Turcopolier, a title subsequently given to a senior officer in the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in charge of the coastal defence and fortifications of Rhodes and Malta. In addition to the two Military Orders, the army of the Kingdom of J

thumb|300px|Reiter cavalry, c. 1575-1650 thumb| (Reiter swords) from Wendelin Boeheim, Waffenkunde (1890), figs. 281–283 thumb| A matched set of Reiter's pistols () Reiter or Schwarze Reiter ("black riders", anglicized swart reiters) were a type of cavalry in 16th to 17th century Central Europe including Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia, and others.

thumb|upright|Austrian pandur, , using a tree for cover while skirmishing thumb|upright=1.25|As with most other modern foot soldiers, the US 6th Marine Regiment, on patrol near [[Marjah, 2010, routinely uses skirmish formation.]]

thumb|upright|1498 illustration of a German man-at-arms by Albrecht Dürer. The man-at-arms is equipped as a [[demi-lancer.]]

right|thumb|300px|A Laconian black-figured cup by [[Rider Painter featuring a member of the hippeus.]] Hippeis (, singular ἱππεύς, hippeus) is a Greek term for cavalry. In ancient Athenian society, after the political reforms of Solon, the hippeus was the second highest of the four social classes. It was composed of men who had at least 300 medimnoi or their equivalent as yearly income. According to the Timocratic Constitution, the average citizen had a yearly income of less than 200 medimnoi. This gave the men who made 300 medimnoi the ability to purchase and maintain a war horse during their

The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi (, meaning "camp oven-bearers" from the Greek word meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace"), in Persian Grivpanvar, were a Sasanian Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of armored heavy cavalry.

underground vaulted space within the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, currently as a Muslim prayer hall

1st United States Volunteer Cavalry during the Spanish-American War

Mounted forces during Ancient Rome

thumb|right|A Danish Guard Hussars|Guard Hussar with a traditional shabraque, decorated with a zig-zag border and royal cypher thumb|right|The arms of the City of London on a shabraque used on ceremonial occasions by the [[City of London Police]] A shabrack or shabraque (, ) is a saddlecloth, formerly used by European light cavalry.

The caracole or caracol (from the Spanish caracol - "snail") is a turning maneuver on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics.

cavalry officer in ancient Greece

type of light cavalry

infantry that rides on horseback

Use of horses during World War I (1914 – 1918 AD)

thumb|1st Light Cavalry Lancers Regiment of the Imperial Guard (Polish)|Polish 1st Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard during the Battle of Peterswalde.

thumb|right|A depiction of a hussar officer of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. His sabretache is suspended below his [[sabre and behind his left leg. It is emblazoned with the White Eagle of Poland]] A sabretache (derived from ) is a flat bag or pouch, which was worn suspended from the belt of a cavalry soldier together with the sabre.

military tactics involving horses or other animals

component of the United States Army

thumb|upright|Harquebusier, carbine-armed cavalry, 17th century The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was the technical name for this type of cavalry, though in everyday usage they were usually simply called 'cavalry' or 'horse'. In Germany they were often termed Ringerpferd, or sometimes Reiter, in Sweden they were called lätta ryttare.

type of war hammer with a pointed head, usually with a short handle

thumb|right|300px|Three figures of desultores, one from a bronze lamp, published by Pietro Santi Bartoli|Bartoli (Antiche Lucerne Sepolcrali, i.24), the others from coins. In all these, the rider wears a pileus, or cap of felt, and his horse is without a saddle. These examples also suggest that he had the use both of the whip and the rein. On the coins, we also observe the wreath and palm-branch as ensign of victory. In antiquity, the term desultor (Latin; "one who leaps down") or in Greek apobates (ἀποβάτης) and metabates (μεταβάτης) (both meaning "one who gets/leaps off") has been applied to

knee-high men's boot with a V-shaped notch and tassel at the top front

military unit of Austria-Hungary

Cavalry forces of the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate

thumb|upright|Portrait of a 14th Murray's Jat Lancers daffadar

military tactic employed by ancient Cantabri horse archers

military unit

heavy cavalryman

raiders from late 1200s to the beginning of the 1600s along the Anglo-Scottish border