Why was the New Economic Policy introduced?
The early 20th century was a time of tumult for Russia. Tsar Nicholas attempted to expand the Russian Empire and ended up fighting the Japanese in the east, resistance in Finland, and internal rebellion. When the Russian Navy was soundly defeated in the war against Japan, the internal protest and rebellion escalated. On a Bloody Sunday in January of 1905, the Imperial Guard fired demonstrators lead by the priest Georgi Gapon launched revolution of 1905. In May the first Soviet, or council was formed in a textile strike in Ivanove-Voznesenk and the sailors on the battleship Potemkin defected to Romania. Matters calmed ...
