That feeling is not unique to the British, only they are louder about it for two reasons: they were the winning side in two huge and most recent conflicts, and

That feeling is not unique to the British, only they are louder about it for two reasons: they were the winning side in two huge and most recent conflicts, and they speak English so we discuss them here. Germans have seen their country recover twice, buy its poor half, and become a financial and manufacturing core amongst their neighbours. They don't even need to talk about it. French are told about La Francophonie, probably since school. Spaniards, well, even George Bush speaks some Spanish. Italians, Culture? Greeks, foundations of knowledge? Turks, the Ottoman Empire? Arab countries, al Andalus? They present themselves according to their own view and emphasis of history, it's just that we don't get to read their own views in English.