"A timely work of major historical importance, examining the whole spectrum of events from the 1916 Easter Rising to the current and ongoing peace process, fully updated with a new afterword. The first full, systematic study of the thought and action of the IRA, the first book which asks not only what the IRA have done, but also why they have done it and what the consequences have been. Based on the most extensive research ever conducted for such a study, Armed Struggle offers a detailed history and analysis of the IRA, building historical foundations on which to base an understanding of modern-day Provisionals. The book examines the dramatic events of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the bitter guerrilla war of 1919-21; the partitioning of Ireland in the 1920s and the Irish Civil War of 1922-3. Here, too, are the clandestine IRA campaigns in Northern Ireland and Britain during the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s"--Provided by publisher.