Drawing upon oral history and archive sources, this thesis analyses the complexity of political choices and national identities in the eastern borders of Italy from the Resistance to the Cold War. It outlines how major historical events impacted on personal and regional histories. As such the thesis is divided into four parts. Part one traces the origins of these choices back to the Fascist period. Part two then focuses on the impact of the World War Two, mapping out its impact on personal choices. Part three outlines the nature of resistance between 1943 and 1945, assessing how conflict was transformed into a civil war. The final part then analyses the impact of the Cold War and split between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.