Effective. Fit for service; as, an army of 30,000 effective (fighting) men.
Efficient. A thoroughly trained and capable soldier. It is also a term used in connection with the volunteers. A volunteer is said to be efficient when he has performed the appointed number of drills and fired the regular number of rounds at the target, in the course of the year.
Egham. A village in the northwest of Surrey, 18 miles west of London. In the vicinity is Runnymede, a meadow on the Thames, where King John conferred with his barons before signing the Magna Charta in 1215.
Egypt. A country in Northeast Africa. On the division of the Roman empire (395 A.D.) Egypt became a part of the dominions of Arcadius, ruler of the Eastern empire. But, owing to religious feuds of the Jacobites and Melchites, it became a province of Persia (616) for twelve years. In 640 the governor, Makaukas, endeavored to make himself independent, and invited the arms of the Arabs, and Amrou easily conquered Egypt. Although Alexandria was retaken by Constantine III., the Arabs drove him out and maintained their conquest, and Egypt remained an appendage of the caliphate. It afterwards passed into the dynasty of the Turks, and was administered by pashas. Constant rebellions of the Mamelukes, and the violence of contending factions, distracted the country for more than two centuries. The most remarkable event of this period was the French invasion by Bonaparte in 1798, which, by the conquest of Alexandria and the battle of the Pyramids against the Mamelukes, led to the entire subjection of the country, from which the French were finally expelled by the Turks and British in 1801, and the country restored to the Ottoman Porte. The rise of Mohammed Ali in 1806 imparted a galvanic prosperity to Egypt by the destruction of the Mamelukes, the formation of a regular army, and the introduction of European civilization. He considerably extended its boundaries, even into Asia; but in 1840 he was dispossessed of his Asiatic conquests. The treaty of London, however, in 1841, confirmed the viceroyalty of Egypt as a fief of the Ottoman empire to him and his descendants.
Ehrenbreitstein. A town and fortress of Rhenish Prussia, situated on the right bank of the Rhine, directly opposite Coblentz, with which it is connected by a bridge of boats. The fortress of Ehrenbreitstein occupies the summit of a precipitous rock 490 feet high, and has been called the Gibraltar of the Rhine, on account of its great natural strength and its superior works. It is capable of accommodating a garrison of 14,000 men, and provisions for 8000 men for ten years can be stowed in its vast magazines. Ehrenbreitstein was besieged in vain by the French in 1688, but fell into their hands in 1799, after a siege of fourteen months. Two years after, the French, on leaving, at the peace of Lunéville, blew up the works. It was assigned, however, to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna in 1814, and under that country was restored and thoroughly fortified. It is now one of the strongest forts in Europe.
Eighty-ton Gun. A large Woolwich gun designed as an armament for the “Inflexible.” Its construction was authorized in March, 1874, and the gun was ready for proof in October, 1875. When first made it weighed 81 tons, having a caliber of 141⁄2 inches. It was bored during the progress of the experiments to 16 inches, and was given an enlarged chamber. The experiments were conducted by the celebrated “Committee on Explosion.” See Ordnance, Recent History of.
Eilau-Preussisch. A town of Prussia, government of Königsberg. It is chiefly celebrated for the victory gained there by the French over the united Prussian and Russian armies, February 8, 1807.
Einsiedeln. A small town of Switzerland, in the canton of Schwytz. It contains a fine abbey, which was rifled by the French in 1798.
Ejector. The device used in breech-loading small-arms to throw out the metallic cartridge-case after it is fired.
Ejector Spring. The spring which operates an ejector.
El Arish. A village of Lower Egypt on the Mediterranean, on the route from Egypt to Syria. It is but little more than a fort and a few houses, and was taken by the French in 1799; and here the French general Kleber signed, in 1800, a convention with Sir Sydney Smith, engaging to leave Egypt with his troops.
Elath, or Eloth. A seaport situated at the head of that gulf of the Red Sea, to which it gave its name. It was a fortified port in the time of Solomon; revolted against Joram; was retaken by Azariah; and was eventually conquered by Rezui, and held by the Syrians till it became a Roman frontier town. Under the Mohammedan rule it rose for a while to some importance, but has now sunk into insignificance.
Elba. An island belonging to the kingdom of Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea, between Corsica and the coast of Tuscany, from the latter of which it is separated by a channel 5 miles in breadth. Elba has been rendered famous in history from having been Napoleon’s place of exile from May, 1814, till February, 1815.
El Boden. A mountain-range, near Ciudad Rodrigo, in Spain, where the British troops distinguished themselves against an overwhelming French force in 1811.
Elbow-gauntlet. An ancient piece of armor, a gauntlet of plate reaching to the elbow, adopted from the Asiatics in the 16th century.
Elbow-piece. An ancient piece of armor, a metal plate used to cover the junction of the rere-brace and rant-brace, by which the upper and lower half of the arm were covered.
Elchingen. A village of Bavaria, on the Danube, 7 miles northeast from Ulm. Here the Austrians were defeated by the French in 1805. For this victory Marshal Ney received the title of Duke of Elchingen.
Electric light. An intense light produced by passing an electric current between points of carbon forming electrodes of the circuit. There are many forms of the apparatus. It will be extensively used in future wars for lighting harbor channels, approaches to forts, etc.
Elements. In a military sense, signify the first principles of tactics, fortification, and gunnery.
Elephant. See Pack and Draught Animals.
Elevate, To. Is to raise the muzzle of the cannon or rifle so that the latter shall be directed at a point above that which it is intended shall be struck.
Elevating Arc. In gunnery, is an arc attached to the base of the breech parallel to the ratchets and graduated into degrees and parts of a degree. A pointer attached to the fulcrum points to the zero of the scale when the axis of the piece is horizontal. Elevations and depressions are indicated by the scale. Besides the graduations on the arc, the ranges (in yards) and charges for shot and shell are given.
Elevating Bar. An iron bar used in elevating guns or mortars having ratchets at the breech.
Elevating Screw. The screw by means of which the breech of a cannon is raised, the result being to depress the muzzle.
Elevating Sight. See Sight, Elevating.
Elevation. In gunnery, is one of the elements of pointing, being the movement of the axis of a piece in a vertical plane as distinguished from direction or its movement horizontally. The elevation is usually positive—that is, the gun is pointed above the horizontal. When it is pointed below, it is said to be depressed. The word is also used to express degree, or as a synonym for angle of elevation. The sights or elevating apparatus of guns are graduated on the theory that the object is in the horizontal plane of the piece, or that the line of sight is horizontal, which is not always the case in practice. When the elevation is determined by sights the angle of elevation is the angle between the line of sight and the axis of the piece, when these lines are in the same vertical plane—or the angle between the line of sight and a plane containing the axis of the piece and a horizontal line intersecting it at right angles, when they are not. The graduations of tangent scales and fixed breech-sights give this angle in degrees.