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The Romans of the 5th century likely saw Odovacar's takeover as business as usual, and didn't view 476 AD as some monumental date the people do nowadays. Non-Italians had served as Roman emperors since 235 AD.
The Romans and the "barbarians" weren't too unalike in the last century or so of the Roman Empire.
Citing cited sources from Wikipedia, Italians were less than 1% of the Roman army by Hadrian's reign, it was majority barbarian for over three centuries before its fall. Barbarians were allowed to settle inside Roman borders since the creation of the Empire.
Furthermore... the heyday of the Roman infantry was over by the 3rd century. From thereon, it was cavalry dominated and barbarian technology was a match for Roman.
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The Buck Stops Here
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