The Long Sunset — Fall of the Roman Empire

The year was four hundred and seventy-six. In it, the last ruler who held the western half of the Roman Empire was set aside from his office, in a quiet and largely ceremonial act. The man who was set aside was a young man called Romulus Augustulus. The man who set him aside was a Germanic chief called Odoacer. In the weeks that followed, the insignia of western imperial rule were sent east, to the court at Constantinople, and with that, the line of western emperors was finished.