World War III

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About

World War III, also written WW3 and WWIII, refers to a series of memes referencing the possibility of a third world war in light of a variety of geopolitical events. While a large wave of memes was created in 2017 in the wake of news regarding deteriorating relations between the United States and Russia due to the Khan Shaykhun bombing, the memes saw an enormous resurgence in early January 2020 after a U.S. drone strike led to the death of Iran's General Qasem Soleimani. In 2021 and 2022, WW3 memes again made a resurgence in light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the November 2022 missile strike in Poland.

Origin

It is unclear when the first World War III image macro was created. An early example was submitted to DeviantArt^[9] on August 8th, 2011, featuring the Ramirez, Do Everything! image with the caption "Ramirez / Stop World War 3 With a Nerf Gun!" (shown below).

Spread

On November 20th, 2012, a screenshot of a Facebook post speculating that a third world war would start due to mankind's enjoyment of "trilogies" was posted on FunnyJunk^[8] (shown below, left). On August 20th, 2015, 9gag^[7] posted a photograph of Gabe Newell with the caption "Vote Gaben for president / and there will be no World War 3" (shown below, right).

On October 21st, 2016, the God Emperor Trump Facebook^[6] page posted a Hillary Clinton-themed Picardia image captioned with a joke about Clinton wanting to "start WW3 over Syria" (shown below, left). On November 13th, the It Was Just a Meme Bro Facebook page posted^[5] a Breaking News photoshop of Donald Trump with the caption "Emperor Trump congratulates WW3 veterans" (shown below, right).

2017 Syrian Air Base Airstrike

Following the United States' response to the Khan Shaykhun bombing in Syria in early April 2017, in which 59 tomahawk missiles were launched at a Syrian air base, many began joking online that a third world war may be imminent. On April 7th, Redditor bradfordGT posted a Crying Michael Jordan meme captioned with a joke about laughing about "World War 3 memes" and receiving a draft notice (shown below, left). Within five days, the post gained over 15,000 points (94% upvoted) and 560 comments on /r/BlackPeopleTwitter.^[1] The following day, Redditor BEISisICE posted a Donald Trump-themed Sleeping Shaq image referencing "WW3" to /r/dankmemes^[4] (shown below, right).

On April 10th, the MrTechnicalDifficult Facebook^[2] page posted a multi-pane Wheelchair Drake image captioned with the joke "When you get that WW3 draft letter" (shown below, left). That day, Redditor flores708 submitted a WWIII Spongebob Squarepants image macro to /r/MemeEconomy,^[3] claiming that "WW3 memes seem promising" (shown below, right).

Assassination of General Qasem Soleimani

On January 3rd, 2020, the United States military carried out an assassination of Iran's General Qasem Soleimani via a drone airstrike.^[10] Due to Soleimani being a popular public figure in Iran who was regarded as a national hero, anti-American and anti-Israelian protests broke out in Iran's capital Tehran and other cities following the assassination.^[11]

Following the assassination and further developments, keywords such as "World War 3", "WWIII" and "WW3" started trending on Twitter and other social media, with multiple topical memes being posted across all major online social platforms, including posts on Twitter, Reddit, iFunny and Instagram (examples shown below). On Twitter, #WWIII reached number one trending position worldwide on January 3rd (shown below, top left).

On January 3rd, American actress Rose McGowan made a series of tweets^[12]^[13]^[14] in which she talked apologized to Iran for the assassination and talked about her voting preference at the upcoming US presidential elections, writing that "This is about WWIII, so none of that shit matters anyway." In the following hours, the tweets were widely circulated online.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine refers to the tension between the two Eastern European countries that came to a head in late 2021 and early 2022. The event involved Western countries like the United States and Germany, whose political influence within Ukraine led to an interest in them joining NATO, working against Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals and for the goals of U.S. President Joe Biden.

On February 21st, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a televised meeting with his ministers and security council, wherein he recognized two "breakaway regions," Donetsk and Luhansk, located in Eastern Ukraine as independent, urging an appeal for recognition of these two regions. This would essentially involve the invasion and occupation of these two regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists within the Ukrainian population. Additionally, Putin was quoted saying that the acquisition of the two regions would protect the citizens within them from the "bloodbath" that would ensue.

The development as a whole was reported on by BBC News, which posted a video to its YouTube channel on February 21st that received roughly 771,400 views in two days.

November 2022 Missile Strike in Poland

On November 15th, 2022, it was initially reported by officials and the media that a missile had come from Russia and struck across the border into Poland, killing two of its citizens.^[15] On November 16th, however, AP News and Reuters reported that the missile initially believed to have come from Russia was actually a stray fired by Ukraine's air defenses. Poland and NATO confirmed this as well.^[16] This nonetheless led to an increase in World War III memes, as well as the Poland Wojak Pushing NATO Article 5 Button meme. On November 15th, Twitter user Tsentey posted one such meme, receiving over 90 likes in three hours (shown below).

The rise in discussions about a possible WW3 trended online, with people making jokes about scenarios that might take place if global war breaks out. ^[17]^[18] On November 15th, Twitter^[19] user @Fallen_x_King posted a Blinking White Guy meme, gathering over 3,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). Also on November 15th, Twitter^[20] user @AVFC_Cian posted a Double Soda Pour meme about WW3, gathering over 500 likes in a day (seen below, right).

Gamers During WWIII

Gamers During WWIII are a series of memes which humorously imagine how the playerbases of various video games would behave if they were drafted into World War III or another armed conflict. The format assumes that gamers would try to utilize various game mechanics to gain an advantage over the enemy, such as Fortnite players rapidly building protective structures and Grand Theft Auto players carrying around an extensive arsenal of weaponry.