The Cossacks - A History of the Russian Empire

Boys in cossack communities learned to ride from infancy and were introduced to the lance sabre and pistol as soon as they were big enough hold them. They took the cavalryman's ethos of supreme confidence and contempt for danger to new levels. Napoleon himself once said, quote, cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If i had them in my army, i would go through the whole world with them.