As the World Turns By: Bob Grudle As far back as ancient Rome, there has always been a dominant country, or in today's terminology, a superpower. Along with the superpower, there are a number of regional powers who are allies or adversaries of the superpower. The Roman Republic had as a regional power, first the Carthage Empire, then the Persian Empires. As Rome began to decline, the Roman territory was split in two the eastern part of the empire, which became the Byzantine Empire and the superpower, and the regional powers were the Persian Empire and later the Islamic Empire. As the Byzantine Empire declined, France took its place. After France it was Spain, then after Spain it was the British. As the United Kingdom began to decline during World War 2, the United States took up the leadership role. After World War 2, the Soviet Union began to challenge the United States for the leadership role, and after the Soviet Union collapsed, China began to challenge the United States for the leadership role.