Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

(Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon, and in chapter 5, it describes his last night, when the Medes and Persians took over.

Daniel had this chapter 7 dream with Belshazzar already the king.

Then when Daniel is given the interpretation, he is told the four beasts are four kings which SHALL arise, i. e. they haven't arisen yet, so it seems, then, that the first beast cannot be Babylon, since no more kings of Babylon arise after Belshazzar.)

Daniel 7:17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

(It would be very convenient for the 4 beasts to match to the 4 metals of the chapter 2 image, but it may not line up that way.

If the 1st beast, lion, is Persia, who controlled Israel when the Jews were allowed to go back home, has an uncanny similarity to modern day UK, also symbolized as a lion, who controlled Israel in 1948, when the Jews were allowed to go back home.

Then, if the bear is Greece, then the uncanny similarity is modern day Russia, also known as a bear, but has Greek Cyrillic letters for it's alphabet, and the Russian orthodox church, had been essentially an extension of the Greek orthodox church.

Which would leave the leopard as Rome, and the 4th beast as the endtimes kingdom of the antichrist.

Does it sound too way out there?)