the birth of the fortress—in the first and second chambers were the same as the previous year. The first chamber was overwhelmingly for the proposal with the result 108–16, but the proponents feared a defeat in the second chamber. During the debate both the Prime Minister of Sweden Erik Gustaf Boström and Jesper Crusebjörn threatened to resign from their posts if the proposal was not accepted, to exert pressure on the second chamber. Boström expressed the following that day: For believe me gentlemen, I consider this question so important that in the same moment I get the definite answer that it is not embraced by the Swedish Riksdag, I will no longer stay in this place. Even after this, the second chamber voted against the proposal, with a vote count of 73–130. Neither Boström nor Crusebjörn resigned, since after further discussion and voting it was decided that the matter should be settled by a joint vote. The first chamber voted in favor, 125–14, while the second chamber voted against, 87–135, with a total outcome of 212–149 in favour of constructing Boden Fortress and allocating the funds needed to start construction. Funding for the purchase of the land that the fortifications were to be built on had largely been provided several years in advance by two voluntary organisations. The Organisation for the Fortified Defence of Upper Norrland () and the Swedish Women's Organisation () had collected 71,000 kronor out of the 131,000 kronor needed for land purchase. Construction Initial work The main inspiration for the design—in which the forts are blasted into the mountains rather than constructed on top of them—came from Vaberget Fortress near Karlsborg Fortress. Vaberget Fortress was built in the 1890s and its southern fort was the first fort in the world that fully used the protection provided by the bedrock itself by having all of its functions embedded in the mountain. Vaberget Fortress served as a prototype for Boden Fortress and many more future fortifications in Sweden, including the late 20th century fixed army and coastal artillery batteries that gave the Swedish Fortifications Agency world renown. Preparatory work was started in 1900 and consisted of a diverse number of tasks, ranging from purchase of beds for the construction workers, construction of a new loading site for the railway, building roads to the various construction sites and clearing the land of those sites. The plan for the Fortifications