Who Really Ended the Western Roman Empire in 476?

On the 4th of September 476 a boy of fourteen named Romulus handed his purple robe to a Germanic officer in a palace at Ravenna, and the Roman Empire in the West ended — and nobody in the room noticed. This is the full story of the hundred years that led there: the Goths begging to cross the Danube and trading their children for dog meat, the emperor burned in a farmhouse after Adrianople, Stilicho beheaded on a church doorstep, Alaric's price for Rome ("Your lives"), the Salarian Gate opened from inside in 410, and Honorius and his hen. From Alaric buried under a river with the treasure of Rome, to the Vandals landing in Africa, Aetius killed by his own emperor's hand, the fourteen-day sack of 455, the burned fleet at Cartagena, the fireships at Cape Bon, Ricimer the kingmaker, and Odoacer raised on a shield — down to the empty throne at Ravenna, the regalia shipped to Constantinople, and the last emperor's pension by the sea. Every scene is hand-narrated and illustrated in-house. Sources: Ammianus Marcellinus Book 31, Zosimus Books V–VI, Procopius's *Vandal War*, Jordanes's *Getica*, Priscus, and the *Anonymus Valesianus*. Final episode of the "Rome: Rise & Fall" playlist. 🏛️ Inked History — the great lives of the ancient world, one story at a time. 👉 Subscribe for the next episode. #FallOfRome #RomulusAugustulus #Odoacer #Alaric #SackOfRome #Vandals #Goths #Stilicho #Aetius #RomanEmpire #AncientRome #LateAntiquity #AncientHistory #History #Documentary #InkedHistory Chapters 0:00 The gate on the Danube 1:50 Stilicho and Alaric 3:54 The sack of Rome 6:03 Vandals 8:30 The kingmaker 10:51 The last emperor 13:23 What fell