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Many people have oftend asked the question about whether the Roman/Byzantine Empire can survive past the 15th century if they did not lose against the Turks in 1453, and the answer for that is usually no.

The question I am asking here is, whether is it possible for the Western Roman Empire to last through the 5th century if the conflict between Orestes and Odoacer didn't occur, or the conflict failed to result in the abdication of Romulus Augustus?

Was the end of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century really inevitable? Or is there some chance that the Western Empire would be able to rebuild itself if it last a little longer for the Eastern Empire to help them?

The reason Romulus was deposed instead of murdered was because he simply wasn't important enough to kill. By 476, I think it was largely similar to 1453. If Odoacer didn't do it, someone else would. There really wasn't anything that could be done for the west at this point.

Setzer wrote:The reason Romulus was deposed instead of murdered was because he simply wasn't important enough to kill. By 476, I think it was largely similar to 1453. If Odoacer didn't do it, someone else would. There really wasn't anything that could be done for the west at this point.

The problem is how much longer before someone else would do it. Mainly because if the Western Emperor was deposed at a much later date, the actions taken by Zeno or any other succeeding Eastern Roman Emperors could very well be different. The end of the Western Empire came at a time when Zeno is trying to resecure his position after the civil war. If the end came at a time where Zeno feels he is secure enough to demand what he wants, I think we cannot rule out that there is a possiblity of him trying to invade Italy.

I'm not sure if Zeno ever felt secure enough. Revolts seem to have happened pretty regularly. I mean, even that moron Basiliscus was able to get some backers to rebel against him, and we know his military record.