The topic of what actually is "low country" co-incidentally came up during the family dinner yesterday evening. The considerations that were raised have only moved me closer to my support for a coast-hugging country rather than one driving in-land. Lotharingia would, almost by definition, consist of more "up country" than "low country". Even OTL Belgium already extends too far in-land far all of it to be fully Low Country in a true sense (although the regions in question are near-universally considered Low Country due to cultural and historical reasons).
So how big could a country, encompassing the OTL Netherlands, really get and still be "low country"? I daresay Lotharingia is right out, and "The Netherlands form Germany" isn't up for consideration, either. Both those options would result in a country that certainly
includes the Low Countries... but wouldn't
identify as such. Their cultural heart and the centre of geographic gravity would both lie elsewhere. Their dominant language would probably not be Dutch or even something like it.
No, if we want to envision a very big Low Country that is actually, well,
low country... then this is where we need to look:
The
orange-bordered area is what I'd call indisputable low country. The only reason the larger part of it isn't culturally identified as such in OTL is pure co-incidence. Namely the fact that it became part of the German cultural unit very early on, and that this unit as a whole wasn't considered "low country". (See there the fate of a Germany united by the Netherlands, or of a surviving Lotharingia: it would
not be seen as "the Low Country" in the cultural consciousness.) In an ATL where the OTL Netherlands and the stem Duchy of Saxony break off from the rest of Germany early on, and then unite, a country covering roughly the area within those orange borders becomes not only a possibility, but almost a certainty. And we can say with equal certainty that it would be seen as being the low country of Europe-- as opposed to the up country that is the rest of Germany.
As I have argued before, a country like that would have vast economic potential, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of the OTL Holy Roman Empire. (You wouldn't have to keep together so many regions with disparate economic and political interests, because the interests of all the low country regions happen to largely co-incide.) Because of that potential power to throw around, I can easily see a country like that annexing the
red-bordered areas. In fact, I consider it extremely likely that this would happen. Most of the area covering and extending from Southern Belgium is already part of the Low Countries in OTL, and the proposed annexations there simply make sense. Annexing this area would hardly be a threat to cultural unity, and in fact, imposing the dominant language on this region would probably be easier than in OTL (because that dominant language would be
a lot more dominant, compared to OTL). The area covering "Greater Denmark", meanwhile, would be a prime candidate for annexation because grabbing it would give the super-powered Low Country complete domination over all Baltic trade. That would be worth fighting a damn bloody war over. Or even a couple of wars. It must be admitted that annexing this area
would probably have some linguistic and cultural influence on the Low Franconian / Low Saxon cultural-linguistic norm of the super-powered Low Country. Nevertheless, I think the resulting country would still be easily recognisable as "the low country", and would presumably be identified as such by the denizens of the ATL.
Then we get to wank territory, with the
blue-bordered areas. My thinking here is that a country so powerful as the one described above would face inland rivals for certain (upper Germany and the kingdom of France, for starters). Expanding inland would automatically cause major wars. And for what? You don't
need to conquer the up country if you already control the mouth of every major river! Almost all the up country's trade already goes via
your ports! On the other hand, expanding North and East would be more interesting from an economic perspective. More direct control over greater Balticum, for starters. Instead of a Tsar building Saint Petersburg with some Dutch advisors, have the (ATL) *Dutch build
their own damn city there. And expansion into Scandinavia is interesting if only because of logging: you need a lot of wood to build all those ships in your inevitable mega-fleet, after all. While not a certainty, I consider the expansion into these areas to be quite realistic. It's still all "low country", too. But at this point, the cultural influence of the people living there is going to be a major factor. Will the country still be even remotely recognisable as having that well-known Low Country culture to anyone from OTL? Well, I think the language would "suffer" (change) a lot, but we're still looking at a trade country, with a trade culture and an economics-based mentality. As a Dutchman, I think I'd feel quite at home.
Deeper into wank-land, we find the
purple-bordered areas. If you can take the blue-bordered areas, it is no longer out of the question that you can expand from there. A big question is: would you want to have it? If the Americas are discovered by this point, then dedicating your energy to establishing lucrative colonies there would presumably take priority. On the other hand, conquering England would remove a dangerous rival and give you complete control over the North Sea. From a more 'meta' perspective, however, the purple areas -- even though they are still all "low country" themselves -- almost certainly mean that their hinterland falls into your hands as well. If you get England, chances are you get Great Britain completely. And if you conquer that deeply into Scandinavia, you will become overlord of
all of Scandinavia pretty much by default. And at that point, you kind of stop being "the low country", because your country has so many mountains in it now... (
ETA: it must, however, be admitted that turning the entire Baltic Sea - including the Gulf of Finland
and the Gulf of Bothnia - into your very own
Mare Nostrum is... pretty damn kick-ass.)
Anyway, I think that this illustrates the potential and the limitations of a truly maximised "Low Country". I hope this rant has been of some use to someone, and I wish you all a merry Christmas from the oh-so-small Netherlands of OTL.