Mondo Knows Facts
The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE
Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed teenage Emperor Romulus Augustulus in Ravenna
In 476 CE, Germanic mercenary commander Odoacer overthrew the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and declined to appoint a successor. This event traditionally marks the collapse of central Roman authority in Western Europe and the beginning of the European Middle Ages.
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Tags: rome, fall of rome, middle ages
The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Germanic chieftain Odoacer deposed teenage Emperor Romulus Augustulus in Ravenna. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
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- Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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