The list of kingdoms Daniel has visions of are the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Macedonians, and the fractured successor states to the Macedonian Empire (the kingdoms of the Diadochi); it was between two of these Diadochi kingdoms, one from the north (the Syrian Seleucids) and one from the south (Ptolemaic Egypt) that wars were fought.
Daniel refers to the Syrian Wars, a series of conflicts fought between these two kingdoms with Judea caught in the middle. Under Antiochus IV the Seleucids finally took Judea from the Ptolemies, and then instituted a series of harsh oppressive measures of forced Hellenization.
Including forbidding the Jews from circumcising their children, observing the Sabbath, celebrating the holy days, and the worse offense of all, sacrificing a swine to an image of Zeus in the Holy of Holies itself--"the abomination that causes desolation". Compare with the 1st chapter of 1 Maccabees.
yes 4 world powers listed--then the roman empire came#5, then the British empire #6--The 2horned beast is the final world power of Rev 13--The 7 heads of the 1st beast listed represent 7 world powers will be before the end. All have been watching rev 13 for years.