Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign

rdf:langString Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign

rdf:langString Provisional IRA campaign

rdf:langString IRA members showing an improvised mortar and an RPG

rdf:langString over 10,000 imprisoned at different times during the conflict

rdf:langString British Armed Forces 643–697 killed

rdf:langString IRA 293 killed

rdf:langString Loyalist paramilitary groups 28–39 killed

rdf:langString RUC 270–273 killed

rdf:langString British Armed Forces

rdf:langString Loyalist Volunteer Force

rdf:langString Royal Ulster Constabulary

rdf:langString Ulster Defence Association

rdf:langString Ulster Volunteer Force

rdf:langString border|25px Red Hand Commando Other loyalist paramilitary groups

rdf:langString Provisional Irish Republican Army * South Armagh Brigade * East Tyrone Brigade * Belfast Brigade * Derry Brigade ---- Supported by: * * * NORAID

rdf:langString Provisional IRA campaign

rdf:langString Others killed by IRA

rdf:langString attacks against British targets in West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

rdf:langString Primarily Northern Ireland and England but also launched

rdf:langString Ceasefire

rdf:langString Military stalemate

rdf:langString From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted an armed paramilitary campaign primarily in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland. The Provisional IRA emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in 1969, partly as a result of that organisation's perceived failure to defend Catholic neighbourhoods from attack in the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. The Provisionals gained credibility from their efforts to physically defend such areas in 1970 and 1971. From 1971–72, the IRA took to the offensive and conducted a relatively high-intensity campaign against the British and Northern Ireland security forces and the infrastructure of the state. The British Army characterised this period as the "insurgency phase" of the IRA's campaign. The IRA declared a brief ceasefire in 1972 and a more protracted one in 1975, when there was an internal debate over the feasibility of future operations. The armed group reorganised itself in the late 1970s into a smaller, cell-based structure, which was designed to be harder to penetrate. The IRA then carried out a smaller scale but more sustained campaign, which they characterised as the 'Long War', with the eventual aim of weakening the British government's resolve to remain in Ireland. The British Army called this the "terrorist phase" of the IRA's campaign. The IRA made attempts in the 1980s to escalate the conflict with the aid of weapons donated by Libya. In the 1990s they also resumed a campaign of bombing economic targets in London and other cities in England. On 31 August 1994, the IRA called a unilateral ceasefire with the aim of having their associated political party, Sinn Féin, admitted into the Northern Ireland peace process. The organisation ended its ceasefire in February 1996 but declared another in July 1997. The IRA accepted the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 as a negotiated end to the Northern Ireland conflict. In 2005 the organisation declared a formal end to its campaign and had its weaponry decommissioned under international supervision. Other aspects of the Provisional IRA's campaign are covered in the following articles: * For a chronology, see Chronology of Provisional IRA actions * For the Provisional IRA's armament, see Provisional IRA arms importation