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.
Počátkem roku 1976 Prozatímní IRA porušila příměří a vrátila se k násilí, ztratila se naděje na rychlé odstoupení Britů ze Severního Irska a místo toho vypracovaly strategii známou jako „Dlouhá válka“ (Long War), která zahrnovala méně intenzivní, ale trvalejší násilnou kampaň, která by mohla pokračovat donekonečna.