At the end of World War II, Italy was militarily defeated and had to make amends to the victors by ceding the entire region of Istria to Yugoslavia, including the coastal towns of the Kvarner Gulf and the Dalmatian province of Zadar, where Italians had always constituted the majority of the population. With the redrawing of borders, a large portion of the Italian population on the peninsula was forced to leave their homes. It was an exodus that disrupted the local demographic landscape as never before. However, some Italians decided to stay.