Our study analyses historical motifs in memes about the Russian war in Ukraine. We identify recurrent motifs and look at the relationship between their historical references and their stance. The results show that historical memes can offer a way of legitimising contemporary events, contribute to establishing superiority over enemies, evaluate current events, and ridicule or praise the people involved. Stance needs to be considered when analysing the historical references in memes.
Troitskiy et al. (2025) studied this question.