In what year did the Roman Empire ACTUALLY fall?

[RINO Tom]

If you think of the standard swords and sandals Rome: The crisis of the 3rd century.

After that Rome was medieval in clothing, living standards, and governance.

I find it kind of ironic that you use "Medieval living standards" as a diss here, haha.  I have seen multiple historians opine that the quality of life for ordinary peasants was actually better in the Middle Ages than the late Roman Empire, and a lot of our "Dark Ages" perspective is based around myths of Enlightenment folks who fanboyed Antiquity.

[Antonio V]

It's the ultimate ship of Theseus of history. For any feature that you might take as core to the identity of "the Roman empire" you'll find different times for when they began and ceased to apply. Personally, I'm partial to the idea that the Third Century Crisis fundamentally altered the nature of the empire (itself prolonging trends that were already underway during the previous century) such that we really ought to understand what emerged afterwards as a different entity. And then we might find a similar fundamental recomposition occurring somewhere between the death of Theodosius (last emperor to rule over both the East and West) and thz the loss of the Levant to the Caliphate, after which we find what we conventionally call the Byzantine Empire. Certainly any effort to find meaningful historical continuity after 1453 (or even honestly after 1204) becomes outright absurd.

[RINO Tom]

... For any feature that you might take as core to the identity of "the Roman empire" you'll find different times for when they began and ceased to apply...

Somewhat OT, but I find this sort of thing fascinating, as our popular modern perception of a given era in the past is usually an eclectic amalgamation of different customs, governments, people, etc. from time periods that were too far apart to have interacted with each other, haha.

Using a modern example with a similar dynamic but that uses geography rather than time periods, it is kind of like how your average American's stereotype of the "archetypal German" is this hilariously contradictory person who is simultaneously a jolly Bavarian in his Lederhosen while also being an obnoxiously prompt Prussian obsessed with order and who is "no fun."

[oldtimer]

If you think of the standard swords and sandals Rome: The crisis of the 3rd century.

After that Rome was medieval in clothing, living standards, and governance.

I find it kind of ironic that you use "Medieval living standards" as a diss here, haha.  I have seen multiple historians opine that the quality of life for ordinary peasants was actually better in the Middle Ages than the late Roman Empire, and a lot of our "Dark Ages" perspective is based around myths of Enlightenment folks who fanboyed Antiquity.

Depends of when the Middle Ages ended.

If you think 1400 A.D. ,that was probably matched in some places like northern Italy, southern Germany, the Rhine ( the same rich bits as today).

Basically Roman living standards peaked during Augustus, and gradually declined once the benefits of the Roman Peace became outweighted by the cost of centralized autocracy.

The nadir was probably around 600 A.D. though it again differed from region to region.