Political History

Long Nineteenth Century

This Routledge Historical Resources collection of eBooks contains both primary and secondary sources on the subject of British and Imperial Politics across the long Nineteenth century. It covers topics including parties and leaders, political, institutions, electoral politics, Empire and Ireland, war and foreign policy, political movements and ideology, gender and its relationship to politics, religion and politics, as well as economics, the State and Victorian social reform.

Subject Essays


Subject Introductions


  • Economic questions

    Dr Tom Crook Reader in Modern British History, Oxford Brookes University During the nineteenth century, economics emerged as a recognisable and increasingly technical science of human behaviour and the production,…

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  • Electoral politics

    Dr Kathryn Rix Assistant Editor, House of Commons 1832–1945, History of Parliament An understanding of how Britain’s electoral system operated is crucial in getting to grips with many other aspects…

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  • Empire and Ireland

    Dr Tom Crook Reader in Modern British History, Oxford Brookes University Following the loss of the American colonies in the 1780s, the British Empire began to shift away from a…

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  • Gender and politics

    Dr Kathryn Rix Assistant Editor, House of Commons 1832–1945, History of Parliament By 1914, almost half a century after the first mass petition for women’s suffrage was presented to the…

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  • Institutions

    Richard Gaunt Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham In the wake of the French Revolution of 1789, a wide-ranging debate about the nature of Britain’s political institutions began.…

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  • Movements and ideologies

    Dr Kathryn Rix Assistant Editor, House of Commons 1832–1945, History of Parliament From the reflections prompted by the French Revolution in the closing decades of the eighteenth century to the…

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  • Parties and leaders

    Richard Gaunt Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham At the end of the eighteenth century, most politicians would have thought of themselves as Whigs, in that they supported…

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  • Religion and politics

    Richard Gaunt Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham Religion played a prominent role in British politics during the long nineteenth century, determining both the terms upon which politics…

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  • The state and social reform

    Dr Tom Crook Reader in Modern British History, Oxford Brookes University At the end of the eighteenth century, Britain’s central state assumed few other core responsibilities than defending the realm…

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  • War and foreign policy

    Richard Gaunt Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Nottingham Britain’s leading role in the defeat of France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1802, 1803–15) gave it a major…

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