Bear Cavalry

The Bear Cavalry (ru: Медвежья кавалерия) is the elite strike force of the Russian army. Hundreds of years ago, Cossack warriors learned how to tame the most vicious animal known to man: the bear. These warrior lend their might and their beasts to the Russian Empire and later to the Soviet Union. Americans came to fear these fearsome beasts. They even added bears at the top of the triad of gruesome creatures you don't want to meet (along with lions and tigers). Only through the activation of NORAD was Reagan able to defeat the elite military arm of the Soviet Union. Today, the Bear Cavalry only exists as a meme and a memory.

The image associated with the meme was created by the Russian nationalistic artist known as partizan74 (Nikolai Nikolaevich Dihtyarenko). He created it during the Ice vs. Fire competition between two Russian art forums in the March of 2006. The original image didn't include the firearms or any indication that the Bear Cavalry were affiliated with the Red Army. The meme spread throughout 4chan and the Internet later that year.