The elastic--full plastic loading curve is for all materials sufficient to explain the strength of beams and beam columns loaded by bending and compression. This theory is extended for the influence of shear stress, and it is shown to be the only way to explain the combined bending-shear strength from test results. Also, the in the past derived bearing strength theory is extended here for bracing action. It will be shown for continuous beams as example, that besides moment redistribution by plastic flow in bending, a plastic shear flow mechanism exists that is also able to cause full moment redistribution. The derivations lead to requirements for the design rules and show how the shear stress may reduce the ultimate bending capacity.