When the Provisional IRA's December 1974 ceasefire had ended in early 1976 and it had returned to violence, it had lost the hope that it had felt in the early 1970s that it could force a rapid British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, and instead developed a strategy known as the "Long War", which involved a less intense but more sustained campaign of violence that could continue indefinitely.
Keď prímerie Dočasnej IRA skončilo začiatkom roku 1976 a vrátila sa k násiliu, stratila sa nádej na rýchle odstúpenie Britov zo Severného Írska a namiesto toho vypracovali stratégiu známu ako "Dlhá vojna" (Long War) ktorá zahŕňala menej intenzívnu ale trvalejšiu násilnú kampaň ktorá by mohla pokračovať donekonečna.