Includes 12 figures.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Imperial Russia possessed the largest cavalry force of any major European power. The vast distances and comparatively open terrain of the Eastern Front seemed to offer mounted troops greater opportunities than the increasingly confined battlefields of Western Europe. Russian cavalry was used for reconnaissance, screening the movement of armies, protecting exposed flanks, carrying messages and pursuing a retreating enemy. Russia began the war with 117 cavalry regiments organized into 37 divisions, including regular army, Guard and Cossack formations.