Uhlan

[2] The uhlans started as Lithuanian irregular cavalry,[3] that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Poland, France, Russia, Prussia, Saxony, and Austria.

Uhlans frequently adopted the practice of the original Lithuanian lancers of attaching pennons to lances to look more awe-inspiring.

As developments in battlefield tactics and firearms had combined with the increasing sizes of early modern armies to make heavy armour obsolescent (though retained by the cuirassier regiments), lighter units became the core of the cavalry, distinguished only by the sizes of their men and mounts and by the tasks that they performed (i.e., reconnaissance, skirmishing, or direct charges).

During the period preceding the Partitions of Poland, uhlan formations consisting of Poles or Lithuanian Tatars were created in most surrounding states simply because the Polish Crown did not have the resources or political will to maintain a numerous army.

King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland formed a regiment of royal guards equipped with lances, szablas, and pistols, each guardsman uniformed in kurtka and czapka.

[12] During and after the Napoleonic Wars, cavalry regiments armed with lances were formed in many states throughout Europe, including the armies of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Russia.

While cavalry carrying this weapon was usually specifically designated as lancers or uhlans, in some instances, the front rank troopers of hussar or dragoon regiments were also armed with lances.

[13] In one notable action during the Waterloo Campaign as the French lancers advanced out of a defile — created by the bridge over the Dyle and the village of Genappe — although they were stationary as they formed up, they lowered their lances to receive a charge by the sabre wielding British 7th Hussars (light cavalry) who were then unable to press home their charge.

However, once the lancers advanced in slight disorder (up the valley slope of the Dyle), they were overridden by the British 1st Life Guards (heavy cavalry armed with sabres) who drove them back through Genappe and onto the bridge.

Uhlans were deployed in the Franco-Prussian War by the Prussian Army in a variety of traditional light cavalry roles.

All German uhlan regiments wore Polish style czapkas and tunics with plastron fronts, both in coloured parade uniforms and the field grey service dress introduced in 1910.

The lance carried by the uhlans (and after 1889 the entire German cavalry branch) was known as the Stahlrohrlanze which consisted of a 3.18 m (10.4 ft) long tube made of rolled steel-plate, weighing 1.6 kg (3.5 lb).

They wore czapkas in regimental colours but otherwise were, after 1867,[23] dressed in the light blue tunics and red breeches of the Austro-Hungarian dragoons, without Polish features.

In 1884 the lance was replaced by the sabre in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry, although the Ulan regiments retained their traditional titles and lancer caps until World War I.

[24] As with other armies, the Austro-Hungarian uhlans were forced into a largely dismounted role by the realities of trench warfare by the end of 1914.

Józef Piłsudski's Polish Legions (an independent formation serving with the Austro-Hungarian Army) had a small uhlan detachment.

Although equipped with modern horse-drawn artillery and trained in infantry tactics, the uhlan formations kept their sabres, their lances and their ability to charge the enemy.

From 1910 to 1918, the designation of "uhlan" had, however, become simply a historical distinction in the Russian cavalry (many of whom carried lances), without tactical significance.

A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged (and were annihilated by) German tanks during the September 1939 campaign.