Chevalier Guard Regiment
imperial Russian military unit
The Chevalier Guard Regiment (Russian: Кавалергардский полк, romanized: Kavalergardskiy polk) was a Russian heavy cavalry guard regiment, created in 1800 by the reformation of the Chevalier Guard corps, itself created in 1764 by Catherine the Great. As other Russian heavy cavalry guard regiments (the Life-Guards Horse Regiment, His Majesty's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment, and Her Majesty's Life-Guards Cuirassier Regiment), the Chevalier Guards were equipped as cuirassiers (with some differences in uniform and equipment from army cuirassiers and other guard cuirassier regiments).
Campaigns
1805 – The regiment first saw combat in the Battle of Austerlitz, in which it fought bravely, covering the retreat of units from the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Regiments of the Russian Imperial Guard infantry. The Chevalier Guards were countercharged and defeated by the French Horse Grenadiers of the Old Guard, who inflicted heavy casualties among the Russians.
1807 – Battle of Heilsberg
1812 – The regiment distinguished itself during the Patriotic War of 1812. The Chevalier Guards lost their colonel early in the Battle of Borodino but, in concert with the Life Guard Horse Regiment, effectively stopped the decisive charge of Saxon cuirassier regiments and defeated French Horse Carabiniers.
1813 – Lützen, Kulm, Leipzig
1814 – Fère-Champenoise
1831 – Polish Campaign
1914 – First World War
The regiment was disbanded in 1918.
Many famous men served as Chevalier Guards including Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès, Grigory Potemkin, Denis Davydov, Mikhail Skobelev, Alexander Rodzyanko, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and Alexander Ypsilantis.
“Chevalier Guard Regiment” enters the record as imperial Russian military unit. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chevalier, Guard and Regiment can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Chevalier Guard Regiment” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chevalier, Guard and Regiment provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 30, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q680411. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1800, 1764, 1805 and 1807.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Chevalier Guard Regiment”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Chevalier Guard Regiment primary sources, Chevalier Guard Regiment archive and Chevalier research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chevalier Guard Regiment”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Chevalier Guard Regiment” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.