Aleksandr Nevskiy
States and tribes in or near the Rus lands often warred with one another, including Rus, Polish, Lithuanian, Turkic, and others. Invaders from farther away included the Mongols and their allies from the east as well as Swedes and Teutonic Knights from the west. Some Rus submitted to the Mongols while opposing the western invaders.
Prince Aleksandr Nevskiy agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols while defeating the Swedes and Teutonic Knights. The Catholic knights sought to conquer and convert the Orthodox Rus, but Nevskiy decisively defeated them in the Battle on the Ice on frozen Lake Peipus in April 1242. This halted the eastward advance of the knights.
Nevskiy's victory became legendary and would be used for patriotic propaganda when fighting western invaders. The poster on the left was made in 1942, when Stalin's USSR was locked in a fight for survival against Hitler's Germany. In the background, Nevskiy is leading his army to victory over the knights, while in the foreground Red Army cavalry is routing the Nazis. The poster claims Nevskiy said, "Whoever raises the sword against us will perish by the sword!".
Red Army cavalry in 1942 were indeed equipped with swords (a version of the traditional Cossack shashka) as well as firearms. Cavalry charges did occasionally occur in the war and sometimes succeeded, but they were rare, as rapid-firing weapons like machineguns were deadly against exposed horses and their riders.