I constantly joke about how France is the best country in the world, and obviously I don't actually believe *everything* I say about that, but honestly you'd be shocked by how much I unironically believe 
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Creasy, in his Decisive Battles of the World, says that if you asked the Italians, the English, or the Germans which nation had contributed the most to civilization they would name themselves, and if asked which nation had contributed the second most they would all say France.
That being the method the Greeks used to decide that Themistocles was the most fit of all the Greeks to lead their fleet against the Persians at Salamis.
