No, no, get this, we'll just build a massive wall, with artillery and shit, on the border of our bitter rival

>No, no, get this, we'll just build a massive wall, with artillery and shit, on the border of our bitter rival
>There's no way they'll just go around it through Belgium, right

What did they mean by this?

They expected Germany to abide by a treaty, which would have been perfectly reasonable had it been a nation other than fucking Germany. There's no excuse.

they did expect them to go through belgium, they just didn't expect such a strong attack from the ardennes

Look at it this way smart guy

You might need 10,000 guys to defend using ditches , but you only need 1,000 to defend concrete emplacements

Thereby leaving the defender with more spare manpower for reserves and offensive manoeuvres

Because going through Belgium was akin to committing political suicide and giving other nations an excuse to form coalitions where they otherwise wouldn't have.

Iirc the French wanted heavy fortifications across the border with belgium but the Belgians didnt want that

France and the UK were already allied, what the fuck else could've happened?

"Allied" is a strong term.

It wasn't built along the Belgian border because that would have been seen as unchivalrous, as if France was abandoning Belgium to the Germans.

It was in fact built along the border with Germany to make sure no German invasion would go through there, and to free up troops that could be used to protect the Northern border. In that it perfectly fulfilled its purpose.

>ways Germany could invade France: through Switzerland (too mountainous), through Italy (too mountainous), through the Ardennes (too mountainous), through Spain (too mountainous), through the sea (too difficult)
>only viable locations for an invasion are Alsace or Nord Pas de Calais (through Belgium, same route they took in ww1)
>France builds an incredibly tough line of defenses in Alsace
>only viable route of invasion is through Nord Pas de Calais
>if ww2 happens, France simply concentrates her forces in Nord Pas de Calais, with minimal manpower placed along the other fronts
>the small size of the front limits how many men can be placed on the frontline, removing the huge manpower advantage Germany had
>all is well, then ww2 happens
>Germans invade Belgium, everything is going according to plan
>Germany bucks expectations by invading through the mountainous Ardennes region with the majority of their armoured forces (especially surprising as tanks fair horribly in mountains)
>Germany completes one of the greatest military feats in modern history by encircling the French forces near Dunkirk and conquering one of the world's foremost military powers in a matter of weeks
>70 years later on a northwest Azerbaijani spear fishing forum a basement dwelling neck beard with ""Prussian"" ancestry laughs at how stupid the French were for building the Maginot line

This. What Germany did was pull a Hannibal and go the route the frogs thought was impossible.

There were like, trees and shit. How could Germany possibly get soldiers and tanks through a bunch of trees?

The Ardennes isn't mountainous, it's wooded

There were Belgian Fortresses in the Ardennes that were deemed undefeatable.
The biggest of it fell in just hours after the germans used paratroopers to get behind it.

So the Germans pushing through Belgium as fast as they did was probably quite a suprise to the French who had actually thought of what this user said : And yeah, they did expect the Germans to keep to the treaty. Which they should have, the pricks, there was really no need to drag us into a European conflict again. I MEAN JEEZ GERMANY, IT'S NOT LIKE WE WERE GOING TO DO ANYTHING, YA CUNTS.

It's mostly hills, with dense woods and lots of rivers with bridges that could get undermined. It's no alps, but they weren't stupid in presumming it would at least slow them down a little, especially considering the fortresses in the area.

And again. There was a motherfucking treaty.

'muh treaty'

It wasnt built along the belgian border so they could have more troops defending the french german border. Not having defences on the belgian side means youre just goating the germans to go through murdering innocent belgians along the way. French was just using the Belgians to bolster their own defence and luring the belgians into a war they didnt want to be a part of.

>ah yes we can surely remain neutral here in a well-used military corridor between two powerful rivals

They ignored Charles De Gaulle and the book he wrote.

Germany did not, in fact the book was a best seller in Germany. Hitler would read it out loud to people.

Yes yes very well fortified france, very well fortified yes. HOWEVER

This

>There's no way they'll just go around it through Belgium, right
That was the exact point. That the Germans will go to Belgium where they would be stopped.

The problem was that they moved in-between the Maginot line garrison and main allied forces in Belgium and there were no reserves to save them from encirclement.

That feel when a French guy invented Blitzkrieg and designed the battle of France.