School accounts commonly mark the end of Roman rule in the west with the deposition of the last Western Roman emperor. In which year is that deposition placed?
Explanation
The keyed year marks the point at which the last emperor ruling the western provinces was removed and no emperor governed from Italy any longer, which is why teaching accounts use it as a boundary. The early-fifth-century sack of the city of Rome is the closest trap, because a sack did not end imperial government there, and emperors continued to be proclaimed for several decades afterwards.