The Brief: Meme-making history buffs have been making fun of the crusades.
DEEP DIVE
Crusades memes loosely refer to the wars fought between Christians and Muslims over various holy sites in the Middle East between 1096 and 1291. Many Crusades related memes reference the video game Crusader Kings II. These memes go in a variety of directions, but most of them feature Crusade-style helmets or the phrase “deus vult.”
Deus Vult
This means “God wills it,” in Latin and was a battle cry by Christians during the first crusade. It has been widely memed, often in reference to religious extremism. It has been used in Crusader Kings and For Honor gaming communities. The term has also been co-opted by Alt-Right internet communities such as on 4chan‘s “politically incorrect” board and Reddit‘s “The Donald.”
Reddit History Memes vs. Anime Memes
Two popular subreddits: r/historymemes and r/animememes are currently “at war” with each other. It seems that History Memes has launched its own crusade against Anime Memes. The “war” mostly consists of memes dragging the opposing subreddit. This all seems to be in good fun, with both sides acting as if it were a life-and-death situation when it’s really a farcical meme “war.”
Crusade Memes
Our brave boys in r/HistoryMemes need our help! from r/dankmemes
Deus Vult comrades, keep up the good fight from r/HistoryMemes
Crusade time from r/memes