A Lancer was a cavalry soldier who fought with a lance.
Although cavalry had used lances for thousands of years, lancers in the modern European sense originated in Poland in the 18th Century. Polish lancers serving with the French Army proved highly effective during the Napoleonic Wars, and by the end of the war all major European states had established lancer regiments of their own.
Lancers typically wore a double-breasted jacket (kurta) with a coloured panel (plastron) at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish cap (czapka). Their lances usually had small swallow-tailed flags (known as the lance pennon) just below the spearhead.
Some regiments were still carrying lances during World War I, but they were quickly proved to be no match for modern firearms. Some cavalry units today are still designated as Lancer regiments, even if they now go to war in armoured fighting vehicles.
In the present-day British Army there are two regiments that retain the disinction of being designated Lancer regiments -- the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and the Queen's Royal Lancers. The Lancer regiments are grouped in the Line Cavalry order of precedence with Dragoons and Hussars, all of which are below Dragoon Guards. The two remaining Lancer regiments act in the Formation Recconnaissance role, employing the Scimitar light tank.
In the Polish and German languages, the lancer is known as the Uhlan.
