Now History often makes people wonder about what if certain events didn't happened, or happened, and you get the point. One of these things is what happened if the Roman Empire didn't split up. Or atleast was delayed for a few extra centuries? Would it prevent the Dark Ages? Would we be mire advance? Or would things still be the same? Feel free to discuss as long as modern day politics is avoided.

All empires are bound to fall one way or another. I don't think that the Ottoman Empire or the Holy Roman one would've emerged if the Roman one hadn't fallen. Can't really say more than that, as History is so full of unexpected events and outcomes.

Would have been interesting - the Arab/Turk Muslim conquests of Asia Minor, the Mediterranean portion of the Middle East and North Africa would have never happened. Might have delayed, changed or even prevented the Western European exploration and settlement of the Americas too (being France, most of Britain, Spain and Portugal were Roman).

It's worth remembering that while the Western Roman Empire fell around 500 ad (if one wants to be generous), the Eastern Roman Empire lasted another thousand years.

I'm sure if the Western Roman Empire had been healthier, or if in fact the Empire had never split, then Western Europe would have developed very differently. On the other hand empires of that size generally fall quickly, or else become empires in name only. It's quite possible that Rome would have become a figurehead for a superficially united Europe, while the provinces themselves followed a similar course.

The Roman Empire did lose territory at times, and it's worth remembering that much of the territory that was conquered during that period was taken from the (Eastern) Roman Empire. Despite the parenthetical it was still a power to be reckoned with, although certain matters concerning religious schisms and the fourth crusade probably wouldn't have occured if the Empire remained united.

Unfortunately those topics can't be discussed in depth without bringing up religion.

The only religious bit about the crusades is their context, and that has nothing to do with what we're talking about anyway. The events of the crusades, and the consequences of those events, are historical facts.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't the fall of the Holy Roman Empire what kick started medicinal development in Western Europe by the Muslims?

Christianity happened in Rome. How can you not bring religion into this?

As Hungry Donner pointed out the Eastern half of the Empire lasted for another thousand years after the fall of the West. The West then became the Holy Roman Empire a couple hundred years later and that lasted till about 1800.

As for the topic, if it had never collapsed. The world would be a very different place. We can't get into religion which I see some people are already doing.

Again, the fact that Christianity had its start in Rome does not mean that if we talked about Roman history we would be talking about religion. There's nothing religious about the fact that Christianity eventually became the official religion of Rome under Constantinople, for example. That's just a historical fact, and it isn't (or at least it shouldn't be) arguable or controversial.

We can't really discuss this topic a whole lot without bringing religion into it, and it seems that we aren't even allowed to mention it.

Imagine Caesar wasn't killed by the [censored]s and Marc Antony managed to warn him...
That seems more interesting to me.

As Donner said the legacy of Rome lasted for a thousand of years after the fall of Rome, in the form of the Byzantine empire.

That's what I'm getting at. It's not the actual topic of religion that everyone seems to be worried about so much as the mention of it.

Religion exists, why dance around it? It's like the "colorblind" movement of political correctness. "You're white/black? I hadn't noticed!"

I've rarely came across either a white person or a black person, always had a tint of another colour.

Yes. But the collapse of the Western Empire placed Western Europe into a dark age, And showed that the golden age of Rome will never come again since The Eastern Empire was slowly crumbling since then.

Maybe we should do like the early christians did, and use secret symbols, like they used Ichtys.

Or politics..

Aside from that though, learning about this in school was my favorite part of world history. Right next to Egyptian history.

Would of ended up as seen in Idiocracy except with more family style.

Errr, not really, yes they had the name 'The Holy Roman Empire' but there was nothing Roman about them and they in no form, shape or way carried on the western half of the Roman Empire. Most of its territories where in Germany, where the Roman Empire at its height possessed little to no territory in.

i submit instead, what if the steam engine's potential was fully capitalized since its first known conception (1st century AD in greece). not that i think the increased efficiency and productivity of a thousand year early industrial revolution would stop or delay the fall of the roman empire, if any thing i think it would accelerate it.

That's an impossible question to answer. I shouldn't need to clarify why.

"What if the Sumerians conquered Earth?"

"What if the Egyptians won at [insert battle]?"

"What if Niv-Mizzet wasn't a jerk, and Jace didn't have that dumb haircut?"

It's not really a question but more of what you think could happened.

Still out of the reach of the human mind. All we can really say is that the world would be different.

True, but it's still interesting to see people coming up with what could happen don't you think?

Hmm, like if pointy fish never became the official religion of Rome, then bendy moon might never have unified the arabs?