After " Bloody Sunday " , when the British Army shot dead fourteen unarmed civil rights marchers , Irish Republican paramilitarism gained substantial support , and recruits flooded in to join the IRA both the Provisional ( PIRA ) & Official ( OIRA ) wings . By the spring of 1972 the IRA believed they were winning and were using the slogan " Victory 72 " . In June 1972 the IRA 's Army Council called a ceasefire to accommodate talks between an IRA delegation and the British Government . The truce lasted two weeks , with hardline IRA members eager resume revolutionary violence believing they had the upper hand against the British Government in the deteriorating law and order situation in Northern Ireland , and victory was in their sight
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Battle of Lenadoon