Basmo Fortress
Coordinates: 59°35′48.93″N 11°32′23.15″E / 59.5969250°N 11.5397639°E
| Basmo festning | |
|---|---|
| Østfold | |
| Type | Land fortress |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | Norway |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1680s |
| In use | 1683-1745 |
| Battles/wars |
Swedish invasion 1716 Swedish invasion 1718 |
Basmo fortress is located in the north-western part of Marker municipality in Østfold near the Swedish border on an isolated mountain outcropping between Rødenessjøen and Hemnessjøen.
It was constructed in the 1680s and was abandoned after 62 years of service in 1745. The first mention of this Norwegian fortress is in a letter from Field Marshal Wedel Jarlsberg to the King in 1683. Major General Johan Caspar von Cicignon developed the plans.
During the Great Northern War it was manned by up to 1,350 men.
On the night of March 9, 1716, the pyres on the mountaintops announced that Swedish King Charles XII had crossed the border with 1,000 men. Moving rapidly, he found the border poorly guarded and moved with cavalry to Høland parsonage. Norwegian troops stationed in the district were assembled by the Basmo commander, Colonel Kruse, who attacked the Swedes in a bloody battle. Charles XII barely escaped capture, but the tide was soon turned against the outnumbered Norwegians, and Kruse, badly wounded, was captured. The Swedes went on to occupy Christiania without resistance on March 21, 1716, but were ultimately repulsed.
Basmo was also in the path of invading Swedish troops during Charles XII’s second unsuccessful invasion in 1718.
References
- Norges festninger by Guthorm Kavli; Universitetsforlaget; 1987; ISBN 82-00-18430-7
- History of the Norwegian People, by Knut Gjerset, MacMillan, 1915.
- The Struggle for Supremacy in the Baltic: 1600-1725 by Jill Lisk; Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1967.
- The Northern Wars, 1558-1721 by Robert I. Frost; Longman, Harlow, England; 2000 ISBN 0-582-06429-5