The Winged Hussars

These were some original bad ass warriors: The Winged Hussars of Poland. Founded in roughly 1500 they were the Iron of eastern Europe for 200 years, crushing the Russians, driving the Turks from Vienna and beating the Germans time and time again. They were the backbone of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They served as the King's Guard and his main fighting arm.

From the wikipedia page, a small list of their battle achievements: 

In the battles of Battle of Lubiszew in 1577, Byczyna (1588), Kokenhausen (1601), Kircholm (1605), Kłuszyn (1610), Trzciana (1629), Chocim (1673), and Lwów (1675), the Polish-Lithuanian hussars proved to be the decisive factor often against overwhelming odds. For instance, in the Battle of Kluszyn during Polish-Muscovite War the Russians outnumbered the Commonwealth army 5 to 1, yet were heavily defeated. The hussars suffered some defeats, particularly during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (Battle of Zhovti Vody, 1648).