the Low Countries

Cultural  

1. Collective name for The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, so called because much of their land surface is at or below sea level. These countries have often been culturally and historically united, and, bordered by the most powerful nations in Europe, they have been a major battleground in European wars for centuries.

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Example Sentences

The Swiss Brethren was one of several Anabaptist churches—churches rejecting infant baptism in favor of adult baptism—that were established in the sixteenth century, primarily in central Europe and the Low Countries.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

The ill-fated plan, which aimed to sweep around heavy German defenses by cutting through the Low Countries, required Allied airborne forces to seize key bridges behind enemy lines and hold them until armor could advance.

From Washington Post • Sep. 6, 2022

Several of the most popular urbanist Twitter accounts are based in the Low Countries and Scandinavia, with many followers across the Atlantic.

From Slate • Jan. 6, 2022

Through the rest of 1939 and into the spring of 1940, Hitler hunched on the borders of France and the Low Countries, his Panzers idling, poised to strike.

From The Guardian • May 22, 2019

Maddie gave a sudden gasp of understanding and waved at the enormous map of southeast England and northwest France and the Low Countries that covered the wall behind her radio.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein