Russian Guards

Russian Guards

Guards (Russian: гвардия) or Guards units (Russian: гвардейские части, gvardeyskiye chasti) were and still are elite military units of Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The tradition goes back to the a chieftain's druzhina of medieval Kievan Rus' and the Marksman Troops (Стрелецкое Войско), the Muscovite harquebusiers formed by Ivan the Terrible by 1550. The exact meaning of the term "Guards" varied over time.

Read more about Russian Guards:  Imperial Russian Guard, Russian Revolution, Soviet Guards, Russian Federation Guards

Famous quotes containing the words russian and/or guards:

    An enormously vast field lies between “God exists” and “there is no God.” The truly wise man traverses it with great difficulty. A Russian knows one or the other of these two extremes, but is not interested in the middle ground. He usually knows nothing, or very little.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder.
    Bible: New Testament, Luke 11:21.22.