Basmo Fortress

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 Swedish King Charles XII and 1,000 men had crossed the border. 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.