It was one of the fiercest guerrilla campaigned waged in modern times and claimed over 3,500 lives and injured more than 47,000 people, but when the IRA announced a complete end to their three decades campaign of political violence it marked the start of a remarkable transition towards peace.
Mark Hirst examines the reasons this once feared organization, founded on armed struggle, decided to pursue a journey from war to peace and speaks to Colin Parry, whose son was killed by the IRA in 1993, Professor Peter Shirlow, an expert on political violence, as well as former senior members of the IRA.
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