War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
Weapons Systems

Cavalry Lance

Also Known As Lance
Modern, Russian Empire

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The cavalry lance, a shock weapon nearly three meters long with a steel point on a wooden staff, underwent a major revival in the Napoleonic Wars after falling out of favor in earlier centuries. Russian and Cossack cavalry retained it longest: as late as 1914, half the troopers in each Russian regular cavalry regiment carried lances, as did all Cossacks, though the weapon proved clumsy against sabres in close-quarters melee.

Facts
Partially Attested
Introduced Year
1807 1
The lance is ancient in origin; the year given here marks its early-19th-century Napoleonic-era revival as a standardized cavalry weapon, not its first invention.
Weapon Class
cavalry shock weapon (mounted lance) 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Lancer
1. Wikipedia: Lancer
Associated With: Imperial Russian ArmyView the Source
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