The Cudgel War was a peasant uprising in the kingdom of Sweden (now Finland) that took place in 1596-1957. The name of the war is based on the fact that the peasants armed themselves with different kinds of blunt weapons, including cudgels, flails and maces.
During one of the darkest events of the uprising, more than 200 peasant rebels were slaughtered in the parsonage of Kenkävero, Mikkeli. Due to these events, a memorial made by sculptor Eino Räsänen was set up in honour of the brave peasants in the 1930s. In the summer 1992 the statue was moved to Kenkävero, on the courtyard of the parsonage.