Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, marking the traditional end of the Roman Empire in the West.
On September 4, 476 CE, Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was deposed by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. This event is traditionally cited as the end of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe. The Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, would continue for nearly another thousand years until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
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