Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In the north, the Germans set up the Italian Social Republic (RSI),
a Nazi puppet state with Mussolini installed as leader. The post-
armistice period saw the rise of a large anti-fascist resistance
movement, the Resistenza. Hostilities ended on 29 April 1945,
when the German forces in Italy surrendered. Nearly half a million
Italians (including civilians) died in the conflict, and the Italian
economy had been all but destroyed; per capita income in 1944
was at its lowest point since the beginning of the 20th century.