True. The web was built on top of the internet, which gave it a huge boost. Today, it's hard to separate the www and the internet, they seem almost 1 combined entity.

I wasn't there, but the internet presumably had value before the www, by having email, ftp and usenet.

It also demonstrates how futile nationalistic feelings are on computers. We invented the internet says the USA. We invented the www, says Europe. Both are irrelevant to the point they are almost wrong. The tech got valuable only because a planet worked together.