What is a ‘nation’? What is a ‘state’? Where have these ideas come from and how have they developed over time? This free course, National identity in Britain and Ireland, 1780-1840, explores how the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland was formed. It then moves to analyse the distinctions between the terms ‘nation’ and ‘state’. Finally, it evaluates the role of national identities in British popular politics during the first half of the nineteenth century.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• understand how the concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ emerged during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
• understand the processes that led to the formation of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland
• understand what is meant by ‘nation’
• understand what is meant by ‘state’
• understand how national identities emerged and converged in nineteenth-century Britain.