successor to rome

Countries that have claimed to be, or, have implied themselves to be, successors to the Roman Empire:

Austria (Claimed successor of HRE)
Bulgaria (Claimed rival and successor of the Byzantines)
France (Claimed through Charlemange)
Germany (Implied through HRE successorship and Kaiser title)
Greece (Claimed successor of the Byzantines)
Italy (Mussolini claim)
Romania (Implied through ethnicity claim)
Russia (Claimed successor of the Byzantines)
Serbia (Claimed rival and successor of the Byzantines)
Spain (Implied pretender successorship of the Byzantines)
Turkey (Claimed successor of the Byzantines)
United States (Implied through governmental structure claim)


Teddy's Judgement:

Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia, and Spain are all too weak, in the modern day, to be the successor of Rome, and, importantly, none of them are very 'Roman' culturally or structurally.

Italy's claims seem to have been an afterthought, and its founding did not see any such claim, thus weakening the claim.

Turkey and Russia are vastly different culturally and politically than Rome ever was. Both their claims are weakened by this and the fact that they both earned the claim at the same time (IE one would need to annex the other for the claim to be more serious)

France and Germany's symbolism, political structure, and culture, can be compared to what existed in Rome, and, if they were the only such claimants, they would probably have the most serious claim, however...

The United States can legitimately, in my opinion, be seen as the successor to the Roman Empire. Not only did it model itself on the Roman Republic explicitly and directly, something all the other claimants failed to do, but its standing in the world for the past 100 or so years matches the way many in the world contemporary to Rome, viewed Rome. IE "Wow! they are the strongest nation in the world, except for maybe China"