The nation and the state are very different ideas? discuss?

The people of a Nation are basically all of the same ethnicity - of a State, they may be of several different ethnicities e.g, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia Sri Lanka.

This is a serious problem in post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa.

For most of European history states were hereditary possessions with little in principle to separate the inheritance of a few fields from the inheritance of a kingdom. As a consequence of dynastic marriages a lord could own territories scattered across Europe. Naturally they would attempt to consolidate these into one territory large enough to claim to be a sovereign state independent of any over-lord. The principle of legitimacy was one of the key stones of Vienna.

The territory need not align with any particular people. Regional and ethnic identities were also much more diverse than they later became. Regional identities were strong. Empires, including France until 1789, often allowed diverse peoples and customs to exist side by side without trying to homogenise them.

One of the effects of the Napoleonic Empire was an attempt to rationalise Europe along national lines, starting with France itself. Although the Congress of Vienna tried to turn back the clock the map of Europe in 1815 is rather different to that of 1806. Germany's multitude of tiny states has been reduced considerably, Prussia controls half of Germany. Metternich was hostile to nationalism which he associated with liberalism. Generally nationalism only flourished among the bourgeoisie in states where a foreign power was in control. The Czechs and Hungarians for example resented the loss of their ancient rights and increasing Germanisation in the Empire. They did not oppose the Empire as such. The German-speaking people of Alsace and Lorraine had no wish to be part of a German empire. States could be multicultural, while nations tried to impose a uniform identity on all their members.