Shrapnel. See [Projectile, Smooth-bore Projectiles].
Shrewsbury. An ancient town of England, in Shropshire, on the Severn. It was the scene of many military events, the inhabitants always taking an active share in the various contests of the most turbulent period of English history, from the conquest to the civil war. It was taken by Llewellyn the Great, prince of North Wales, in 1215, during the disturbances between King John and the barons. The famous battle of Shrewsbury, in which Henry IV., then prince of Wales, first distinguished himself in the field, and the fiery Hotspur was slain, was fought in 1403.
Shropshire, Battle of. In which the Britons were completely subjugated, and Caractacus, the renowned king of the Silures, became, through the treachery of the queen of the Brigantes, a prisoner to the Romans.
Shunt Gun. A rifled fire-arm having two sets of grooves, down one of which the shot is passed in loading, and along the other of which it passes out when fired, having been shunted from one set to the other, when at the bottom, by turning upon its axis.
Shuternaul. In the East Indies, is a sort of arquebuse, which is fixed upon the back of a camel.
Siberia, or Siberi. A vast territory in Northern Asia, belonging to Russia, and including all the Russian possessions in that continent, with the exception of the Transcaucasian and Armenian provinces. Siberia seems to have been first made known to the Russians by a merchant named Anika Stroganoff; and soon after the conquest of West Siberia was effected by the Cossack Vassili Yermak, an absconded criminal, at the head of a numerous band of wild followers. After Yermak’s death, in 1554, the Russians pursued their conquests eastward, founding Tomsk in 1604, and though they often experienced serious reverses, their progress was rapid, the Sea of Okhotsk being reached in 1639, and Irkutsk founded in 1661. Frequent disturbances have occurred between the Russians and the Chinese and Tartars, which have resulted in the extension southward of the Siberian boundary into Manchuria and Turkestan.
Sicarii (i.e., [Assassins]). The name given by the Romans to certain savage mountain tribes of the Lebanon, who were, like the [Thugs] of India, avowed murderers by profession. In the same mountains there existed, at the time of the Crusades, a branch of the fanatic sect called “Assassins,” whose habits resembled those of the Sicarii, and whose name the Crusaders imported into Europe; but these were of Arabian origin.
Sicilian Vespers. The name given to the massacre of the French in Sicily, on the day after Easter (March 30), 1822, the signal for the commencement of which was to be the first stroke of the vesper-bell. On the evening of Easter Monday, the inhabitants of Palermo, enraged (according to the common story) at a gross outrage which was perpetrated by a French soldier on a young Sicilian bride, suddenly rose against their oppressors, the French, and put to the sword every man, woman, and child, and did not even spare those Italians and Sicilians who had married Frenchmen. This example was followed by Messina and other towns, and the massacre soon became general over the island. The French were hunted like wild beasts, and dragged even from the churches, where they vainly thought themselves secure. More than 8000 of them were slain by the Palermitans alone. This event was the final overthrow of Charles of Anjou’s domination in Sicily.
Sicily (anc. Sicilia). The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, situated between Italy and the coast of Africa, and separated on the northeast from Naples by the Strait of Messina; it is a province of the kingdom of Italy. It was successively occupied by the Phœnicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. For history of the Carthaginians in Sicily, see [Carthage]. The western part of Sicily was made a Roman province in 241 B.C.; but after the revolt of Syracuse in the second Punic war, and the conquest of that city by Marcellus, the whole island was made a Roman province. On the downfall of the Roman empire, Sicily formed part of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths; but it was taken from them by Belisarius in 536, and annexed to the Byzantine empire. In the 8th and 9th centuries the Saracens succeeded in conquering it. The Normans conquered the island in the 11th century under Roger Guiscard, duke of Apulia. It passed successively into the hands of France (see [Sicilian Vespers]), Germany, and Spain. By the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, it was given to the Duke of Savoy; was added to the kingdom of Naples in 1720. The war of 1734, however, carried on by France and Spain against Austria, transferred the crown of Naples, or, as it was subsequently termed, of the Two Sicilies, to a branch of the royal family of Spain; it remained in their hands until the French revolution led, in 1799, to the expulsion of the royal family from Naples. In 1815, Ferdinand IV. of Naples assumed the title of Ferdinand I. of the Two Sicilies. In 1847, 1848, and 1849, the Sicilians made several attempts, in common with the Neapolitans, to rid themselves of their obnoxious monarch, Ferdinand II., but without success. The Bourbons were, however, driven from the throne by Garibaldi in 1860, and in the same year Sicily was united to the new kingdom of Italy. See Naples.
Sick and Hurt. A board so called, to which the agents, commissaries, etc., belonging to the several military hospitals in Great Britain were responsible.