British military reinforcements struggled to cope with the ferocity of the IRA's escalating campaign, the worst manifestations of which were no warning attacks such as those in Claudy and Belfast on Bloody Friday.

Yet 1972, regarded by republicans as their 'Year of Victory, ' arguably marked both the high point of their campaign and the beginning of its demise. Loyalist paramilitarism was rampant during the year, as both the UVF and UDA were responsible for an increasing number of sectarian attacks and stand-offs with the British Army. 1972 also witnessed a further hemorrhaging of unionism, the emergence of the potentially sinister Vanguard movement, and the substitution of Westminster grandees for locally-elected politicians when it came to the governance of the region. This book tells the story of the most extraordinary year of the modern Northern conflict