12 of the smartest history TikToks

TikTok isn’t just lip dubs, pranks and pouting teenagers. It can also be clever interpretations of Latin songs, political and historical messages about inequality, racism and Communism, and chemical formulas for exothermic reactions.

1. A succinct depiction of inequality told through the lens of Kreayshawn’s 2012 hip hop hit “Go Hard.”

2. The Brexit negotiations told through the medium of the Spice Girls

3. The history of the Atlantic slave trade, pretty much

4. The inevitable disappearance of creativity on nascent social media platforms’ due to their design promoting vapidity

5. Men started wearing wigs in the 1600s and 1700s because King Louis XIV had syphilis

6. World War Two plus Eddy Grant in a Tik Tok (with lots of typos)

7. In which I discover the Latin lyrics of “O Fortuna” in a TikTok comment

8. A critical analysis of the use of Seventies music in contemporary cinema

9. Meanwhile in the 1800s…

10. Of course you know the chemical formula for a thermite reaction (iron oxide or rust, plus aluminium equals fire)

11. Algebra is useful so you don’t fall for stupid memes

12. The parallels between the Great Depression of 1929 and the Financial Crisis of 2008