A short list of the mounted regiments whose names still carry weight centuries after their last charge.
Quick answer. Among the most celebrated cavalry regiments in European history are the Polish Winged Hussars, the French Cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard, the British Royal Scots Greys, the Russian Chevalier Guard, the Austrian Hungarian Nadasdy Hussars, the Household Cavalry (Life Guards and Blues and Royals), and the Cossack hosts of the Don and the Kuban. Each won a specific battlefield reputation that carried into the modern successor regiments.
The Polish Winged Hussars
The husaria of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth are the most spectacular heavy cavalry in European history. Armoured in a cuirass, carrying a kopia lance up to five metres long and sporting wooden frames of eagle feathers rising from the saddle, they broke armies for a hundred years. The high point was 1683 at the gates of Vienna, when King Jan Sobieski led 18,000 cavalry including some 3,000 winged hussars down the Kahlenberg hills and shattered the Ottoman siege lines.
The French Cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard
Napoleon's twelve cuirassier regiments served through every major campaign from 1804 to 1815, but the two regiments of the Imperial Guard (the Grenadiers a Cheval and the Dragoons of the Guard, with the cuirassier role shared across the line regiments) were the shock troops. At Eylau in 1807 the cuirassiers of Murat's reserve charged through a blizzard into the Russian centre and probably saved the French army. At Waterloo, General Milhaud's cuirassier corps charged Wellington's squares again and again, failing to break them but never breaking themselves either.
The Royal Scots Greys
The 2nd Dragoons, nicknamed the Royal Scots Greys from the colour of their horses, charged at Waterloo as part of the Union Brigade. Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the French 45th Line Regiment's eagle in that charge, an action that gave the regiment one of its most famous battle honours. The Greys served through the Crimean War, the Boer Wars and both World Wars. The regiment amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers in 1971 to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who still parade on grey horses to this day.
The Russian Chevalier Guard
Russia's premier cuirassier regiment, raised by Catherine the Great in 1764. White uniforms, silver cuirass, oversized bicorne or helmet. The regiment was almost destroyed at Austerlitz when it charged into French infantry squares, but reformed and fought through the rest of the Napoleonic Wars. The regiment's officer corps included much of the Russian high aristocracy, and its ranks produced two Decembrist conspirators in 1825. Disbanded in 1918.
The Household Cavalry
Britain's sovereign's bodyguard, formed from the Life Guards (raised in 1660) and the Blues and Royals (combined in 1969 from the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons). The two regiments supply the mounted sentries at Horse Guards in Whitehall and the escort at state occasions. They fought at Waterloo, in the Crimea, in both World Wars and in Iraq and Afghanistan. The ceremonial dress of red tunic (Life Guards) or blue tunic (Blues and Royals) with brass helmet remains one of the most recognisable British military images.
The Cossacks
Not a single regiment but a tradition of light cavalry raised from the Don, Kuban, Terek and other Russian frontier regions. Cossacks served the Tsar from the 17th century into the 20th, and their raiding during the 1812 retreat from Moscow destroyed the surviving French cavalry. The uniforms varied by host: dark blue cherkeska coats, high sheepskin hats, long sabres, often with the gazyr cartridge pouches sewn across the chest. The last Imperial Cossack regiments were disbanded after 1917, though successor units survive today in the modern Russian military.
Common questions
Which cavalry regiment is the oldest still serving?
The British Life Guards, raised in 1660, is often cited as the oldest continuously serving regular cavalry regiment in the world. The French 1er Regiment de Hussards Parachutistes claims continuous descent from 1720.
What is the Union Brigade?
The Union Brigade was a British heavy cavalry brigade at Waterloo consisting of the Royal Dragoons, Scots Greys and Inniskilling Dragoons. Named Union because it drew one regiment each from England, Scotland and Ireland.
Did the winged hussars really wear wings?
Yes. Period paintings and surviving museum examples confirm the wooden frames of eagle feathers worn either on the back or on the saddle. The purpose is debated, but they were real.
Which cavalry regiment captured a French eagle at Waterloo?
Sergeant Charles Ewart of the Royal Scots Greys captured the eagle of the 45th Line in the Union Brigade's charge. The eagle is still displayed in Edinburgh Castle.
Are Cossacks still a military formation?
The Imperial Cossack hosts were dissolved after 1917. Modern Russian Cossack units exist in various forms, mostly for ceremonial and local policing roles.