Ancient Swedish Naval Fortress

As part of our Viking Russia trip, Bev and I spent a day exploring this militarized Swedish island. There are images from the museum there.

The first image is an overview of the 1748 naval fortress, as completed on five islands just off Helsinki, Sweden. Attacks and bombardment by enemy ships was the big military threat at the time. This enormous fortress protected Helsinki harbor and the Swedish fleet. A major garrison of soldiers and heavy cannons imbedded in the high fortress walls created a death zone for any ships attacking from the sea.

However, in 1808, in one of the many Russian-Swedish wars, the Russian army, not the navy, attacked. They were used to miserable cold weather, and dragged cannons through the snowy forests and across the thick harbor ice (see winter image below) and invaded the invincible fortress from behind.