Was it Oscar Wilde who said (by memory): "The United States is the only nation that went from barbarism to decadence without an intervening period of civilization"?

I believe the Brits ended slavery and actively discouraged the slave trade (The Romans never got to that) way ahead of the Yanks.

I think it probable that without the US in the 20th century the Brits would not be speaking German, but they'd be using RSL (Russian as a Second Language).

(Any why not, Russian is a SWELL language with many many folk songs)

TAK PRAVDA!