What if the Roman Empire never fell?

Seeing as half of this sub has been quarantined for the next while, I think it's about time we begin to ponder the infinite probabilities of history.<br><br>If the Western Roman Empire never collapsed in 476 and the Eastern never in 1453, would the modern world look entirely different? Would the 15th century catastrophic Black Death never have occurred? What about the modern nations of the 15th century, like Portugal, Spain and Britain? Would the centuries-long scuffle between nations like France and Germany have ever occurred? And what would the fate of the Americas have been? Would they still have been discovered by a colonial power, even if it was the Roman Empire? <br><br>Damn, maybe it would have been better if the Roman Empire had stayed. The dark ages sure sucked.