Belgium and the Netherlands are two of the three countries in Western Europe that make up the Low Countries. In many ways the two are very similar, and historically at different periods in history large parts of both were ruled by the same political entities including the Roman Empire, the Frankish Empire, the Burgundian Netherlands, the Habsburg Netherlands, The Spanish Empire, and finally the Kingdom of the United Netherlands. But today the two are independent of one another despite the many cultural similarities and shared history. In this three part series I will be looking at how Belgium became independent from the Netherlands starting with this episode on the historical context of the two countries.