Hegemony. Leadership; preponderant influence or authority; usually applied to the relations of a government or state to its neighbors or confederates.
Hegira, or Hedjrah (from the Arabic hajara, to desert). A Mohammedan epoch, dating from the expulsion or flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, July 16, 622. This flight was fixed as the great Moslem epoch by the caliph Omar, seventeen years later.
Heidelberg. A city of Germany, in Baden, situated on the Neckar, which is possessed of a celebrated university. This town has been besieged several times; it was taken by Tilly in 1622, and by Turenne in 1674.
Helder. A town of Northern Holland, on the North Sea, at the mouth of the Marsdiep, which separates it from the island of Texel. Near this place a naval battle was fought between the English and the Dutch in 1653, in which Van Tromp was killed. It was taken by the English under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in 1799; was afterwards retaken by Brewe, and subsequently rendered a first-class fortress by Napoleon I. It is connected with Amsterdam by the famous Helder Canal.
Helena, Saint. An island in the Atlantic Ocean, which presents to the sea, throughout its whole circuit, an immense wall of perpendicular rock, from 600 to 1200 feet high. This island was discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, and belonged to the Dutch from 1610 to 1650, when it fell into the hands of the British. It is chiefly famous for having been the place in which Napoleon I. was confined by the allied powers after his final overthrow at the battle of Waterloo. Here he lived at Longwood, from November, 1815, till his death in 1821. His remains also lay here till 1840, when, by the permission of the English government, they were conveyed to France.
Helepolis. In the ancient art of war, a machine for battering down the walls of a place besieged. The invention of it is ascribed to Demetrius Poliorcetes. Diodorus Siculus says that each side of the helepolis was 450 cubits broad, and 90 in height; that it had nine stages, or floors, and was carried on four strong solid wheels, 8 cubits in diameter; that it was armed with huge battering-rams, and had two roofs capable of supporting them; that in the lower stages there were different sorts of engines for casting stones, and in the middle they had large catapults for launching arrows.
Heligoland. A small island in the North Sea, situated about 46 miles northwest from the mouths of the Elbe and Weser. It was taken from the Danes by the British in 1807, and became a depot for merchandise intended to be smuggled into the continent during Napoleon’s continental blockade. At the peace of 1814 it was retained by England, and is of importance as an outpost in time of war.
Heliography. See [Looking-glass Signaling].
Hellespont. See [Dardanelles].
Hellin (anc. Ilunum). A royal town of Spain, in the province of Murcia. This town was sacked by the French under Montbrun, and was the point where Joseph and Soult united with Suchet after Marmont’s rout at Salamanca.