Roman Empire

===Fall in the West and survival in the East===
The [[Western Roman Empire]] began to [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|disintegrate]] in the early 5th century. The Romans were successful in fighting off all invaders, most famously [[Attila]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bury |first=John Bagnall |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9*.html#4 |title=History of the Later Roman Empire |date=1923 |publisher=Dover Books |pages=295–297 |author-link=J. B. Bury |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=13 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713102254/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/9%2A.html#4 |url-status=live }}</ref> but the empire had [[Migration Period|assimilated so many Germanic peoples]] of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself.{{Sfnp|Bury|1923|pp=312–313}} [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Most chronologies]] place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when [[Romulus Augustulus]] was [[Deposition of Romulus Augustulus|forced to abdicate]] to the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] warlord [[Odoacer]].<ref name="Peter Lang AG">{{Cite book |last=Scholl |first=Christian |title=Transcultural approaches to the concept of imperial rule in the Middle Ages |date=2017 |publisher=Peter Lang AG |isbn=978-3-653-05232-9 |language=en |quote=Odoacer, who dethroned the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, neither used the imperial insignia nor the colour purple, which was used by the emperor in Byzantium only.}}</ref><ref name="The Fall of Rome">{{Cite web |last=Peter |first=Heather |author-link=Peter Heather |title=The Fall of Rome |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml |access-date=11 February 2020 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=28 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328030720/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/fallofrome_article_01.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gibbons">{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire |date=1776 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |editor-last=Widger |editor-first=David |language=en |chapter=Gothic Kingdom of Italy. – Part II. |quote=The patrician Orestes had married the daughter of Count Romulus, of Petovio in Noricum: the name of Augustus, notwithstanding the jealousy of power, was known at Aquileia as a familiar surname; and the appellations of the two great founders, of the city and of the monarchy, were thus strangely united in the last of their successors", "The life of this inoffensive youth was spared by the generous clemency of Odoacer; who dismissed him, with his whole family, from the Imperial palace. |author-link=Edward Gibbon |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Clink362HCH0005 |chapter-format=ebook |via=Project Gutenberg |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830175141/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Clink362HCH0005 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Odoacer ended the Western Empire by declaring [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] sole emperor and placing himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate. In reality, Italy was ruled by Odoacer alone.<ref name="Peter Lang AG"/><ref name="The Fall of Rome"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |title=The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |date=1776 |via=Project Gutenberg |language=en |chapter=Gothic Kingdom of Italy. – Part II. |quote=The republic (they repeat that name without a blush) might safely confide in the civil and military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request, that the emperor would invest him with the title of Patrician, and the administration of the diocese of Italy. ...His vanity was gratified by the title of sole emperor, and by the statues erected to his honor in the several quarters of Rome; ...He entertained a friendly, though ambiguous, correspondence with the patrician Odoacer; and he gratefully accepted the Imperial ensigns. |author-link=Edward Gibbon |access-date=11 February 2020 |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Dlinknoteref-5511 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830175141/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#Dlinknoteref-5511 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Eastern Roman Empire, called the [[Byzantine Empire]] by later historians, continued until the reign of [[Constantine XI Palaiologos]]. The last Roman emperor died in battle in 1453 against [[Mehmed II]] and his [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] forces during the [[Fall of Constantinople|siege of Constantinople]]. Mehmed II adopted the title of ''[[Kayser-i Rûm|caesar]]'' in an attempt to claim a connection to the Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ozgen |first=Korkut |title=Mehmet II |url=http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp |access-date=3 April 2007 |website=TheOttomans.org |archive-date=30 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430145544/http://www.theottomans.org/english/family/mehmet2.asp |url-status=live }}; {{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=23 January 2018 |title=1453: The Fall of Constantinople |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1180/1453-the-fall-of-constantinople |access-date=11 February 2020 |website=World History Encyclopedia |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412192442/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1180/1453-the-fall-of-constantinople/ |url-status=live }}</ref>