40 Hilarious But Accurate History Memes That May Satisfy Your Inner Historian (New Pics)
History gets a bad reputation, mostly due to stuffy teachers and dense, bland textbooks. In reality, no pun intended, it’s a gold mine of interesting facts, fascinating personalities, and stories that can rival Hollywood. Screenwriters have tapped into real events for a long time, so it’s no surprise that meme creators have started to do the same.
Memes are a great way to share stories from our history and present them in an approachable and relatable way. So get comfortable, scroll down, and upvote your favorites. Should you feel like you want to see some more, Bored Panda has you covered, with other collections of history memes here, here, and here.
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The One War I Don't Think Sabaton Ever Has Or Ever Will Write A Song About
Book Sais A Thing
Vietnam Was A Wild Time
Besides often being hilarious, memes also help tie us closer to other people. After all, they use some shared piece of information or context to communicate the idea or punchline. It is actually quite beautiful that we as humans have so much shared experience, or history, as some might call it, that groups of people can all enjoy the same images overlaid with text.
Most of the images here rely on two things, the reader understanding the frame of reference for the image, which are from general meme templates and media, while also understanding the text, which references some historical event or fact. Educators should pay attention since this mechanism actually promotes learning by connecting something new with something more familiar. At the very least, students won’t be falling asleep in class.
Progressive May Be Relative But Still
Window Tax
Mysterious Copper Object Goes Brr
In their defense, history teachers and professors have their work cut out for them. They need to convey huge amounts of facts and context to people who often don’t understand the point of the entire exercise. “Those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it,” goes the adage by writer and philosopher George Santayana. This perfectly illustrates the issue of history, as the actual quote goes:” Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But most people don’t always even learn from their own life experiences, so it’s a pretty tall order.
No One Attacks Our Buddy And Gets Away With It!!!! It's Go Time Motherf****r!!
Ofc It Takes Skilled Labor To Construct Complex Monuments
The "poor" pyramid workers as well as the later tomb architects had communal housing, free food and entertainment, socialised healthcare... What they did NOT have is money, as Egypt did not introduce money until the arrival of the Greeks. Before that, they had some kind of standardised barter economy with partly fixed exchange rates, like "three loafs of bread equal one pair of sandals" and so on - quite an interesting system, actually. They were mostly paid in bread and beer. The former could be exchanged against other goods and services.
A Surprise To Be Sure But A Welcome One!
We can think of history as trying to put together multiple jigsaw puzzles, with an unknown number of missing pieces and boxes that may or may not be lying about what the actual image looks like. Anything older than a few decades has already lost its primary sources and older history might cover periods where the language has died out or perhaps writing didn’t exist yet. Some historians go as far as to say that our history really is just a history of civilizations that developed writing.
You Guys Know You Lost Right?
How Screwed Would You Be If You Had To Live In Your Favorite Time Period As A Common Woman
Sadly being a woman still means you're screwed in most non-western societies. Even in western ones you're worse off being female...
How Are You Supposed To Answer This One..?
Which Roman Empire? These are technically all correct: 1943 was the surrender of Italy in WW2 followed by Rome's occupation by Nazi Germany, 476 was the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, 1806 was the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, 1453 was the Fall of Constantinople and fall of the Byzantine Empire.
Even worse, people have short memories, and certain ideas and facts often just lose their relevance. The term “ash heap of history” or “dustbin of history” reflects the reality that as ideas and artifacts lose their importance, they end up forgotten, to the detriment of future historians. The same can be said of language and texts, particularly for works that have yet to be digitalized. In his arguably most famous work, The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, said “manuscripts don’t burn.” While that may be true, they can still be simply forgotten.
The More You Know
Yeah, and that's 2 kind of slavery completely different. It's like comparing the roman slavery to the viking one. They are both horrible but it's stupid to try and compare them to say "this one is better".
Turns Out A Lot Of Historical Figures Who Dreamed Of World Domination Were A Bit Freaked Out By Cats
Ah Yes Christianity
So historians have the thankless task of trying to find those bits of data and information that have been left buried in some archive, tomb, or museum basement. The first historian, at least to our knowledge would be Herodotus, who lived around 450 BC and is sometimes called the “father of history.” Though due to his habit of covering folk tales alongside real events, modern critics sometimes label him the “father of lies.” Historians can be a hard crowd to please.
Memento Mori -Domitian, Probably
Tragic Realization Oc
Speaking As An Austrian
Jokes on you, I’m from a European country where the only colonial history we have is being colonized and genocide! Therefore I’m perfectly entitled to looking like this. (Second sentence was a joke jtc) (edit; It’s Ireland)
Fight Me Idc
My Answer:atlest Establish A Base Off The Beach
Franz Ferdinand
High Iq Meme
Well, Any Contradictions?
At Least One
The Siege Of Jadotville Is One Of The Un Peacekeepers' Finest Moments, But Is Barely Talked About
It’s awful that they’re only just now getting recognition after years. Heart breaking the treatment they received when they returned home
The Dutch Called Oranges "Chinese Apples", So
The First Four Caliphs Kinda Have Chad Energy About Them
For some reason yo are missing the middle of the speech "Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God wills; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God wills." He was in power for 2 years and had multiple uprising and rebellions, plus started multiple wars.
Daily Reminder That The Protestants Mainly Did Witch Hunts And The Church Outright Made It Illegal To Do Them
While in the 1500s the Church formally stopped prosecuting witchcraft, the just changed the name swapping "withcraft" for "demon possession" or "heretic". Nevertheless the Catholic church did plenty of prosecuting of free thinkers, ill or generally innocent people in the thousands.
It's Our Territory
In fairness, the Falklands held a sovereignty referendum in 2013 and 98% voted to stay with Britain PLUS Argentina was a rainforest when the Brits first occupied it so they really have zero claim simply because it's closer to them than us.
What Are Everyone’s Plans For The 12/25 Holiday?
More Accurately
Did You Know David Attenborough Owns A First Edition Of The Origin Of Species?
Ik this not related but like the square eyebrows on society 😂
The Forgotten Squabblers
I’m Part Of This
Romans Like Their Walls Way Too Much
If building walls is the key to success I'll start right now *builds a wall around my home*
When The
They all should have been locked in a concrete tomb and dropped into the Mariana Trench. And even then, they would still have polluted the waters.
I Did It, I Beat Rule 12
If they were anything like my Sims they wouldn't even have needed sticks or stones... 🔥
Ksayarsa, Haksamanish
"Don't Worry Boys, We Got It Covered" -Omar Bradley, Probably
All Three Will Lie To You
Not Even A Us Tank In Japan
So Much Wasted Potential
China makes a lot of claims for inventions, but not many of them are factually accurate. Claiming historical innovations has been a habit of the post-Mao Chinese autocracy, and is considered a way to foster nationalism and patriotism. They do not refrain from outright lying or making up "history" as it suits them. There are a credibility issues with those claims, and many inconsistencies, issues that even pro-sino historians feel the need to address but the chinese government plainly ignores in favor of propaganda. https://www.economist.com/china/2016/12/20/what-china-claims-to-have-invented
Scary Actually
It was very depressing indeed when people complained that "Twelve Years A Slave" was too over-the-top unrealistically grim only to be told that in reality IT WAS ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE WORSE AND THE MOVIE ACTUALLY TONED IT DOWN.
Seriously, The Dutch Have A Massive Hard On For Canada
The Dutch do love us. Canada liberated the Netherlands. We also gave future Queen Juliana and her family refuge during WWII. She gave birth in a Canadian hospital, which was declared neutral soil, so her child could have Dutch citizenship and not Canadian. They still send us 10,000 tulip bulbs each year. Dutch children also clean the tombs of Canadian soldiers and put candle around them.
Athena Once Turned Someone Into A Spider Because She Felt Sorry For Her (???)
Zeus will absolutely f**k up your life especially in conjunction with Hera. janus or hecate are all about choices, so are normal, aphrodite is ok, as long as you re-pay her. Artemis is relatively safe, to the point where you can see her bathing and survive, as long as you are female or young. Thanatos and Hades are inevitable, nemesis and tyche are omnipresent, and the nature gods, potamus, winds, and nymphs are common to meet. Dionysus is positively fun. apollo is okay, as long as you haven't insulted his mother. lots of the minor deities are friendly, the titans are tyrants, gaia is the mother of all tyrants. I think hestia and hephaestus are okay, but still gods, so don't risk too much. on the other hand, Loki is slippery, and Thor will kill you if you break his goats, but otherwise they are okay. It's the animals you have to watch out for.
according to google translate, it says "prepare your a**s" . . .
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Celtic gods are even friendlier. You can poke around in their mythology all day without anybody getting roped. Everyone is dtf, and there's this cow that keeps cropping up and getting into shenanigans like a Benny Hill movie.
I feel like Roman/Greek gods where just used as excuses to explain bad things like famine, flooding etc. But I do enjoy the mythology.
If you're talking about Arachne, no she didn't. She turned her into a spider for being uppity.
I think the story behind the spider thing is that a woman was really good at spinning, so she challenged one of the gods. She won, and the god was angry and changed her into a spider. (Athena is the godess of cities, war, handicraft, and practical reason.)
Spoiler Alert: It Did
And, did it work? Edit: It did, and it is written in the heading.... Note to myself: Read more carefully next time :-)
Very Brave Of Them
Ghost Of Tsushima Was Very Accurate
I Think We Can Work Something Out
Verhoeven: I'm Doing My Part!
Everything’s Fixed
This conflict is soooo complex and each attempt to solve it from the outside just make it worst .......and from the inside ? ...... Let's just say that the death threats from Egypt on a population who just escaped extermination DIDN'T help at ALL and left a ssslightly bad impression that remains until today
You Know The Movie I'm Talking About
Who Would Win At Last?
It didn't help that Hannibal elephants were almost all lost well before arriving to the Roman Empire core, mostly dying from Barbarian attacks in the Rhone Valley en route to Italy, in the crossing of the Alps and in the first cold winter of Northern Italy. In the same way, half the expeditionary force was lost in transit. Hannibal, by the way, was not the "greatest military genius of his time". He was a last minute replacement of his brother Hasdrubales, the Carthaginian general who set up the whole campaign and invasion, who got killed mid-way while camping in Spain.
When You Think You Are Napoleon Reborn
In case you are wondering, every man above the age of 14 was murdered in Paraguay when they lost the war.
F**k Beria
"𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱...𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂."
Jumping On The North America Train
(Meta) The State Of The Sub Rn
Debate In The Comments
You Better Know That If Certain War Is Compared To The Biblical Flood Then It Is *really*bad
The Vikings Chose A New Motto
It is either Allah or Inshallah, and is very much true. The dating is indeed correct for trade between the Vikings and the Abbasaid Caliphate. Who she was or the significance of the ring is unknown - whether she was a Scandinavian Muslim or a Middle Eastern visitor is also unknown.
This Didn't Age Well
Ouch
Tbf He Hated Pretty Much Everyone
Why Is Everybody Talking About The Assassination Of Franz Ferdinand, When The Arthashastra Already Speaks Of Assassination In The Year 300 Bce?
Don't Look Up His Name Tho
The 1965 Mgm Vault Fire And Many Like It Are Why We Don’t Have A Lot Of Silent Movies
Just as only a dockside warehouse of the Library of Alexandria caught fire accidentally and not the actual library itself; MGM had their film archives stored in sealed vaults, so even though 100% of Vault #7s contents were sadly destroyed, none of the other vaults were affected and they saved 70% of their library. Extra props go to MGM for storing their archive in vaults in the first place, the other film companies at the time typically destroyed their films, likely being a bigger loss to film history.
Ohh I´ve Got A Brand New Shiny Helmet
Seriously How Do People Not Understand This
Aaaand... NO. Germany was THIS close to (kind of) winning WW2. UK avoided invasion only thanks to their barely-held air superiority in the Battle of Britain in 1940-41. Without UK, any plan for US intervention would not have gone through. US would have handed Japan a*se back to them in retaliation, sure, but most of the population was very much ok with peace with Germany up until late 1942. If Germany had invaded UK, they could have settled for a comfy European peace, acquiring France, UK, the Balkans, most of East Europe, the North African colonies and likely even Turkey, while keeping Italy, Portugal and Spain as close allies. They would have had plenty of time for rearming and renovating the military, while the USSR -that was still struggling with a "modernization" of the army two decades too old- would have been hopeless without the military hardware lend-lease agreements from the USA and UK.
Did They Really Think It Would Be Accepted?
They didn't. In 2002-2003 Putin made public claims about willingness to join Nato *if invited*, something that is way out of procedure. Baron George Robertson, then Nato Secretary General, replied that if he wanted Russia to join NATO he would have to apply, as any other country. Putin of course refused because he was not willing to go through a process that he said was designed for "countries that don’t matter", and made clear Russia had no intention of modernizing their military to NATO standards (a mandatory committment). In hindsight, it became evident that Putin proposal was just a way to look for a pretext to roll back the 1992 Russia-NATO "Partnership for Peace" agreements. At the time, Russia was beginning its Chechen wars, which would have disqualified them from application anyway.
The First Suicide Hotline Was Set Up In The 50s By A(N Anglican) Priest Literally Named "Chad". That's It. That's The Joke
-And We Will Give It. (They Actually Did)
The British did help in the Irish famine, to the extent of spending the equivalent of £1.2B today, by setting up Soup kitchens, importing Maize from the USA. A lot of the food exported rotted in storehouses as the local land owners refused to hand it out due to their tenants owing money. There was also a big move on the nationalist anti-British front at this time in Ireland which spread a lot of the rumour that British is not helping the Irish. The question is could they have done more and honestly they probably could and should of.
He Fought For Three Countries Against Communism, Even For The Nazis, Yet Lost All Of Them
Shout, Lauri Törni's name A soldier of three armies knows the game Keeps their echo from the past Rise from beyond your grave Son of Finland and the Green Beret May you rest in peace at last Lauri Allan Törni
Kind Of Jealous
Life expectancy doesn't mean this. Very high infant mortality rates are why the number is so low historically.
The Drip Don’t Stop
Some funny, some sad, some informative, and some disrespectful. A fine assortment.
I think I am not alone in saying, I didn't get a lot of these references....
Me neither even when people explained it in the comments I still didn't understand a lot of it!
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Yeah, well, these so-called "funny" "historians" don't know much about history.
😑 Came for the history, left because of al the war related stuff (this is the BP airport right?!)
What exactly do you think most history is? Happy stuff?
Load More Replies... Some funny, some sad, some informative, and some disrespectful. A fine assortment.
I think I am not alone in saying, I didn't get a lot of these references....
Me neither even when people explained it in the comments I still didn't understand a lot of it!
Load More Replies... Yeah, well, these so-called "funny" "historians" don't know much about history.
😑 Came for the history, left because of al the war related stuff (this is the BP airport right?!)
What exactly do you think most history is? Happy stuff?
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