The Fall of the Western Roman Empire (commonly known as Fall of the Roman Empire or Fall of Rome) was the period of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it disintegrated and split into numerous successor states. By 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed the Emperor Romulus, the Western Roman Empire wielded negligible military, political, or financial power and had no effective control over the scattered Western domains that could still be described as Roman. Invading "barbarians" had established their own polities on most of the area of the Western Empire. While its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again.