Cavalry units and formations

thumb|upright|Rittmeister in the Karabinier-Regiment Graf Hatzfeld, 1748 Rittmaster () is usually a commissioned officer military rank used in a few armies, usually equivalent to Captain. Historically it has been used in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries.

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

The Optimatoi (, from , "the Best Men") were initially formed as an elite Byzantine military unit. In the mid-8th century, however, they were downgraded to a supply and logistics corps and assigned a province (thema) in north-western Asia Minor, which was named after them. As an administrative unit, the 'Theme of the Optimatoi''' (, thema Optimatōn'') survived until the Ottoman conquest in the first decades of the 14th century.

military unit

Cavalry forces of the Muslim Rashidun Caliphate

The Hikanatoi (), sometimes Latinized as Hicanati, were one of the Byzantine tagmata, the elite guard units based near the imperial capital of Constantinople. Founded in the early 9th century, it survived until the late 11th century.

military unit of the Byzantine army

Algerian Army corps

The archontopouloi () were an elite military formation of the Byzantine army during the Komnenian era, in the 11th-12th centuries. They were founded by Emperor Alexios I Komnenos () as part of his military reforms and were recruited among the orphans of Byzantine officers who were killed in battle.

military unit