When did the Roman Empire fall (your thoughts)?

[Theodosius the Great]

The Holy Roman Empire was widely regarded throughout the medieval period as the continuation of the Roman Empire at least in the west. One can argue that's what counts, not the anachronistic views of people born hundreds of years later.

I have to agree with Voltaire (for reasons other than his own) that it was neither holy, Roman, or an empire. At the very least I can see it as a successor state. It succeeded as chief defender of (western) Christendom for centuries. And the emperor was crowned by the Pope. The HRE was surrounded by impish princelings who would surely have been gobbled up by the Moors in the West or later the Turks in the East had it not existed.

I'm more incredulous about the second date you cited. I'm unaware of any western historians who subscribe to the Turkish view that the Ottoman empire was a continuation of the Roman empire. I doubt the Christian subjects of the Ottomans or their Islamic enemies in Persia saw it that way. Does anyone know?

~Theo