Liikkala Fortress is a fortress in Kouvola, Finland. It was built in 1790s as a part of a larger South-Eastern Finland fortification system to protect Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. Liikkala is located at the crossroad of four roads from Anjala,

Hamina Hamina (; sv, Fredrikshamn, , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, reg ...

, Kouvola and Kaipiainen. During the Hats' War of 1741–1743, Russians built a military camp in the area, and the oldest fortifications might be from that time. During the

Russo-Swedish War Wars between Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and ...

of 1788–1790, the importance of the fortifications became evident as the Swedish troops tried to push through Liikkala towards Hamina. In 1790, Russians started to construct the Liikkala Fortress as an outpost of the

Hamina Fortress Hamina Fortress ( fi, Haminan linnoitus) is located in Finland on the coast of the Gulf of Finland and it is an integral part of the Hamina city centre. Hamina fortress is a Star fort, representing the Renaissance ideal city embodied by Palmano ...

, so that reinforcements could be called from Hamina when needed. After the Finnish War, the border was moved to the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...

, and the fortress system lost its importance and was eventually abandoned. During the Winter War, an

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

was posted on the fortress hill.

References

Forts in Finland {{Fort-stub