How did the Treaty of Versailles contribute to Hitler's rise to power?

Hitler and many other Germans on the far right pushed a national myth that Germany was "stabbed in the back" by socialists and liberals who concluded a peace with the Allied Powers. The Treaty of Versailles fed into this idea, in that it forced Germany to take sole responsibility for starting the war, forced the defeated nation to accept harsh punishments, and placed limits on Germany's military that were seen as a national humiliation by many Germans. Many of the people who had supposedly "stabbed" the nation in the back were represented in the democratic Weimar regime that took the reins of government after the war, and thus shouldered the blame for the spiraling inflation that resulted in part from the hefty reparations the nation had to pay to the Allies. Hitler and others especially identified Jews and Communists (and there was considerable crossover in Hitler's mind between the two) as insidious schemers who had brought the nation to defeat through their conspiracies. The Treaty of Versailles, and the Jews, Communists, Socialists, and even liberals who supposedly agreed to it, became an object of derision for many Germans, and Hitler gained popularity by railing against it. The symbolic importance of the German defeat in 1918, if not the Treaty itself, to the Nazis was demonstrated in 1940, when Hitler forced the defeated French government to sign articles of surrender in the same railroad car where the Germans had surrendered 22 years earlier.

The Treaty of Versailles helped Hitler rise to power in Germany because it humiliated Germany and made Germans resent it and the people who forced it on them. 

The Treaty of Versailles treated Germany very harshly.  It took away much of their territory including all overseas colonies.  It forbade them to have a full-scale military.  It required them to pay reparations to the countries that had defeated them.  It forced them to state that the war had been their fault.  All of this made Germans very angry.  Germans felt that they had been treated unfairly because they did not think the war was all their fault.  They felt that the victors were simply being vengeful.  They hated the idea that they were forced to give up their power and to become a weak and helpless country.

In the wake of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, political upheaval broke out.  This included violent clashes between rival factions.  It seemed as if the democratic government could not keep order or unity in the country.  This was exacerbated by the coming of the Great Depression in 1929.  Because conditions got to be so bad, Germans were completely disenchanted with the Weimar Republic.  They wanted change and they were willing to listen to people who could promise to make Germany great again, regardless of how radical those people were.  It was in this context that the Nazis were able to become popular.  They told people what they wanted to hear.  They seemed to offer the people a way out of their troubles and a way that they could regain what they felt they deserved.

Thus, the Treaty of Versailles helped cause anger and resentment in Germany.  That anger and resentment helped allow Hitler to come to power because he and the Nazis promised to fix all of their country’s problems and make Germany great again.

The Versailles Treaty ended World War I. This treaty was very harsh on Germany. Germany had to pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies. Germany had to accept responsibility for World War I. Germany had to give up land and could only have a military capable of defending itself. Germany was very unhappy with the terms of the Versailles Treaty.

After World War I ended, Germany experienced difficult economic times. The economy went into a depression. Hitler suggested that if he was given political power, he would avenge the mistreatment from the Versailles Treaty. He said that the German people should not accept being treaty so poorly. He also promised to put the people of Germany back to work.

Since there were difficult economic times and since the German people were angry, they were willing to listen to Adolf Hitler and eventually support him as the leader of Germany.

What was the significance of the Treaty of Versailles' territorial terms in Hitler's rise to power?

Adolf Hitler was able to utilize the punishments levied against Germany by the Treaty of Versailles to rally political support for the goals of the Nazi Party.  The Germans were greatly harmed by reparations and loss of territory to the point that their economy was in shambles.  The citizens of Germany were desperate and Hitler's rallying cry was to restore German industrial and military might. This appealed to a large segment of Germans that were suffering from inflation and poverty.  Germany lost important territory such as the Saar coalfield that legitimately harmed its ability to resume industry.  Additionally, the Germans lost territory to France, Belgium, Denmark and Austria that displaced thousands of people of German descent. Hitler appealed to German nationalism in his goal of reuniting all of the German people that had been displaced.  

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