=Apprenti= (_Fr._). Apprentice. Formerly in the French service they had apprentices or soldiers among the artillery, who served for less pay than the regular artillerymen, until they became perfect in their profession, when they were admitted to such vacancies as occurred in their respective branches. =Approach.= The route by which a fortified place or military position can be approached by an attacking force. =Approaches.= The trenches or covered roads by which the besiegers convey ordnance, ammunition, and stores, and march troops to and from the parallels; also the trenches by means of which the successive parallels are established. =Appropriations.= For the support of the U. S. army are made annually; the bill for the same must originate in the lower house of Congress. The English army is raised by the queen, and maintained by annual appropriations by Parliament; the system for the support of armies is much the same throughout Europe. In the United States, the term is also used by post and regimental councils of administration in the expenditure of funds. =Appui.= See POINT D’APPUI. =Apri=, or =Apros=. A small town in Thrace, on the river Melas, where the daring leader of the Catalonians, Berengar de Rocafort, defeated the Greeks under the Emperor Michael, 1307. =Apron.= A piece of sheet-lead used to cover the vent of a cannon. =Apulia.= A province in Southeast Italy, conquered by the Normans, whose leader, Guiscard, received the title of Duke of Apulia from Pope Nicholas II. in 1059. After many changes of masters, it was absorbed into the kingdom of Naples in 1265. =Aqueduct.= A channel to convey water from one place to another. Aqueducts in military architecture are generally made to bring water from a spring or river to a fortress, etc.; they are likewise used to carry canals over low ground, and over brooks or small rivers; they are built with arches like a bridge, only not so wide, and are covered by an arch, to prevent dust or dirt from being thrown into the water,--there are also subterranean aqueducts, such as pipes of wood, lead, or iron. =Aquila= (Southern Italy). Near here the Aragonese, under the condottiere Braccio Fortebraccio, were defeated by the allied Papal, Neapolitan, and Milanese army under Jacob Caldora, June 2, 1424. Braccio, a wounded prisoner, refused to take food, and died, June 5. =Aquila.= The principal standard of a Roman legion. The standard of Romulus is said to have consisted of a handful of hay, straw, or fern, affixed to a pole or spear; whence the company of soldiers who served under it was called _Manipulus_. This primitive standard was soon superseded by the figures of animals. In 104 B.C. the eagle was permanently adopted; it was made of silver or bronze, and was represented with expanded wings. =Aquilifer.= A name given by the Romans to the officers who carried the eagles of the legions.