Edessa, or Callinhoe. An ancient city of Mesopotamia. In 1144 the Edessenes were defeated by the Saracen chief Nur-ed-deen, and all who were not massacred were sold as slaves. After many vicissitudes, it fell successively into the hands of the sultans of Egypt, the Byzantines, the Mongols, Turkomans, and Persians; the city was finally conquered by the Turks, and has ever since formed a portion of the Turkish dominion. Its modern name is Oorfa.
Edge. The thin or cutting part of a sword or sabre.
Edgehill. An elevated ridge in Warwickshire, England, 7 miles northeast from Banbury. Here was fought, on Sunday, October 23, 1642, the first great battle of the civil war, between the royalist forces under Charles I. and the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex. Prince Rupert, who led the right wing, charged with his cavalry the left wing of the Parliamentarians, broke it, and pursued it madly to Keinton. Essex with his force defeated the right wing of the royalists.
Edinburgh. The metropolis of Scotland, situated about 11⁄2 miles from the Firth of Forth. It was taken by the Anglo-Saxons in 482; retaken by the Picts in 695; city fortified and castle rebuilt, 1074; besieged by Donald Bane, 1093. The city was taken by the English in 1296; surrendered to Edward III. in 1356. It was burnt by Richard II., 1385, and by Henry IV., 1401. A British force landed from a fleet of 200 ships, in 1544, and burned Edinburgh. The castle surrendered to Cromwell in 1650. The young Pretender occupied Holyrood September 17, 1745, and the battle of Preston Pans took place September 21, 1745.
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].