Page "Nokia, Finland" Paragraph 3

Nokia was the setting of one of the largest battles in the Club War, a 1596 peasant uprising against Swedish feudal lords.

The peasants, armed with clubs, took up residence in Nokia Manor and won several skirmishes against the feudal cavalry, but were decisively defeated by Klaus Fleming on January 1 – 2, 1597.

Thousands of clubmen were slain and their leader Jaakko Ilkka, who had fled, was captured a few weeks later and executed.

The Club War was the last major peasant revolt in Finland, and it permanently consolidated the hold of the nation state.

Much later, in the Finnish Civil War ( 1918 ), Nokia ( along with neighboring Tampere ) was a Socialist stronghold and saw some combat.