Why was COBOL widely adopted as a programming language?

Answer 1

Unlike most programming languages of the time (or even today, for that matter), its syntax was more like standard English than esoteric symbols. A non-technical person might have trouble understanding this:

for (i=0; i < limit; i++ {some code}

But easily grasp

PERFORM 100-MAIN-PROCESS VARYING sub1 FROM 0 BY 1 UNTIL sub1 NOT LESS THAN limit.