Memes can be a great escape from the real world, but sometimes current events, like the never-ending pandemic and tension in the Middle East, are becoming too frustrating to joke about. The world seems to be such a mess lately. Fortunately, the world has always been a total disaster, and one of the best reminders we have of this is our messed-up world history, which is full of countless pointless wars, violence, truly weird emperors and some guy named Rasputin.

Things were never really that good, honestly. But that's why history memes are so great. They can remind us that we don't always need to be mocking the tragedies of the present. That can be kind of distasteful, anyway. Instead, we can laugh at the tragedies of the past with history memes, because those guys are so dead they're not even able to roll over in their graves from annoyance. Here are some of our favorite history memes for anyone looking for new (old) jokes to enjoy in the modern era.