Why did Germany choose to launch their offensive via Belgium during WW 1 instead of the Ardenness?

Answer 1

1- In 1914 the roads in the ardennes where not what they where in 1940
2- In that time period all the army's depended very strongly on the railroad connections and in Belgium there where plenty off them ( we where the first country on the continent that had a railroad )
3 - The french German border was massively defended and fortified by the the 2 country's
4- The french expend that the Germans would attack there because they didn't think that Germany would invaded a neutral country ( Belgium ). So the German General Von schlieffer constructed the plan to sweep trough Belgium and so to take the french by surprise.
The rest is history

Answer 2

For a start, the Ardennes are in Belgium. Why fight through mountains, however, when they could just roll across the north European plain on their way to the channel? Look at a map - the land is flat all the way to the Urals. The Schlieffen plan, which laid the blueprint for the war from the German perspective, also envisaged massive use of the railways to move troops and railways tend to follow flatter ground.

Answer 3

I'm sure there are several reasons. One strong probability was due to the fact that Germany no longer had stores of fuel. The offensive had to forage for fuel as they went. The Ardennes wouldn't have much in the way of gasoline, but the populated areas of Belgium would.

Answer 4

The French were massed at the border. This was an opportunity to get around a soft flank.