Uhlan
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.
Uhlans traditionally wore a double-breasted short-tailed jacket with a coloured plastron panel at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish lancer cap. This cap or cavalry helmet was derived from a traditional Polish cap design, formalised and stylised for military use. Their lances were traditionally topped with a small, swallow-tailed flag just below the spearhead.
Etymology
There are several suggested etymologies for the word uhlan. In the Turkic languages, oğlan means 'young man' or 'boy'. It is probable that this entered Polish via Tatar and was styled as ułan. The Polish spelling was then adopted by German, French, and other European languages.History
Origins
Uhlans frequently adopted the practice of the original Lithuanian lancers of attaching pennons to lances to look more awe-inspiring.In the Polish army during the 16th century, a division developed between units of hussars who used a long lance, called in Polish drzewiec and later kopia, and units of light cavalry, known as Cossack cavalry, which used a short lance of the Rogatina type, also called in Polish a “small drzewiec”. The difference between them was significant. The former measured from 4.5 to 5.5 meters in length, while the latter ranged from 2.5 to 2.85 meters. The rohatyna was also used by units of medium-armored cavalry, the Pancerni, which evolved from the Cossack cavalry. In Lithuania, the rohatyna was commonly used by all kinds of cavalry, even in units of Petyhorcy, who also fought with a longer lance. Above all, however, it was employed by Tatar cavalry units, formed by the Tatars settled in Lithuania by the Grand Duke Vytautas, for whom it was the primary weapon, alongside a bow. All units of Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry were modeled on the art of war of the Crimean Tatars, with whom they mainly clashed throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, and used mainly bows alongside rohatyna.
The rohatyna was fitted with a blade shaped like an elongated leaf or a triangle, with a lateral barb bent downward. It usually had a colorful silk pennant attached. Unlike the kopia, it could be used to deliver blows not only couched under the arm, but also overhand and from a distance. Light cavalry also fought with a shorter and more slender dzida, likewise adopted from the Tatars.
The Great Northern War exposed the deep crisis of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as its military weakness. The reforms of the 1717 Silent Sejm reduced the size of the Polish–Lithuanian army, including the cavalry, yet they also became a stimulus for the emergence of a new formation of uhlans. Above all, they preserved a substantial proportion of cavalry, which continued to make up about half of the army, whereas in Western armies this share was much smaller. Secondly, they maintained the importance of the lance, which had disappeared in other armies. A short lance also began to be used by hussars, although the honorific name kopia, referring to the chivalric tradition, was still retained.
Electorate of Saxony
, Elector of Saxony and from 1694 also King of Poland, impressed by the military theories of Chevalier de Folard, who proclaimed the superiority of cold steel over firearms, and by observing the effectiveness of Tatar cavalry units in the Polish–Lithuanian army during the Tarnogród Confederation, mainly the one lead by Aleksander Ułan, began to form cavalry similar units in the Saxon army. This was facilitated by the reduction in the size of the Polish army, which released many well-trained soldiers from military service. However, the first units of this kind began to be formed only toward the end of his reign. On 28 February 1735, during the struggle for the Polish throne against Stanisław Leszczyński, he incorporated into his army the private Tatar light banners of Crown regimentarz Józef Potocki, who had defected to his side. He formed them into a regiment of uhlans; this was the first time the term appeared as the proper name of a separate military formation. In 1738, the Saxon Court Uhlan Regiment was established, commanded by Jakub Błędowski. Their expansion took place during the Silesian Wars. At the beginning of the 1750s, they numbered 402 officers and soldiers and were stationed within the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.18th century
Uhlan units started emerging in Western European armies during the War of Austrian Succession, starting with an uhlan squadron, known as the Natzmer Uhlanen, formed by Frederick the Great in 1740. The next year, the squadron was expanded to an uhlan regiment, finally being transformed into Natzmer's 4th Hussar Regiment in 1742.Simultaneously, in 1743, Maurice de Saxe formed a mixed uhlan-dragoon regiment, the Volontaires de Saxe, for Louis XV's French Royal Army. It was composed of six companies, each of eighty dragoons and eighty uhlans, and included Lithuanian, Polish and Tatar soldiers. The regiment was known for its bravery, fighting spirit, and alcoholism.
The first uhlan regiments were created in the early 18th century, during the 1720s, in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
As developments in battlefield tactics and firearms had combined with the increasing sizes of early modern armies to make heavy armour obsolescent, 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.
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. Speed and mobility were the keys to the effectiveness of light cavalry armed with lances.
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. This unit became the prototype for many other units of the Polish cavalry, who started to arm themselves with equipment modelled after uhlan regiments and medieval Tatars.File:Polish Army of the Kościuszko Uprising 17.PNG|thumb|left|Polish uhlans of the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794 – Walery Eljasz Radzikowski
In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the uhlans inherited the status and traditions of the winged Polish hussars in 1776, thus becoming National cavalry. The Austrian empire also formed an "Uhlan Regiment" in 1784, composed primarily of Poles. Uhlan regiments recruited from Austrian cavalrymen were raised in 1791.File:Szwolezer.JPG|thumb|180px|Polish chevaulegers of the Imperial Guard in the Battle of Peterswalde – Juliusz Kossak
19th century
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Duchy of Warsaw raised uhlan formations. Polish lancers serving with the French Army included the Legion of the Vistula and the 1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard lancers were armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The lancers of the Polish expeditionary corps, which fought alongside the French in Spain and Germany, spread the popularity of the Polish model of light cavalry. After the Battle of Somosierra, Napoleon said that one Polish cavalryman was worth ten French soldiers. The chevaux-légers, French light cavalry units from the 16th century till 1815, were remodelled after the uhlans. Following the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, lancer regiments designated as uhlans were reintroduced in the Prussian service. Initially, they were only three. After the War of the Sixth Coalition, uhlan regiments were formed from Lützow Free Corps, Schill Free Corps, Bremen Volunteers and Hellwig's Streifkorps.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.
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 who were then unable to press home their charge. However, once the lancers advanced in slight disorder, they were overridden by the British 1st Life Guards who drove them back through Genappe and onto the bridge.
During the Battle of Albuera, the 1st Vistulan Lancers Regiment in French service virtually annihilated three of four of the British infantry regiments comprising Colborne's 1st Brigade. In 1816, the British Army established its own lancer regiments, converting four light dragoon regiments for the purpose and practically adopting the whole uniform of Napoleon's famous Polish Lancers, including the czapska.File:Charge of Poznań Cavalery during November Uprising.JPG|thumb|Charge of the at the Battle of Rajgród during the November uprising of 1831The traditions of the Polish uhlans were preserved during the Kingdom of Poland. They fought both in the November uprising of 1830 and in the January uprising of 1863. Uhlans were deployed in the Franco-Prussian War by the Prussian Army in a variety of traditional light cavalry roles. During the siege of Paris, uhlans were tasked with shadowing passenger balloons launched from the city: their capacity for rapid movement made uhlans the only troops able to keep pace with the balloons, either to seize them on landing or at least report trajectory and destination.