In the charged atmosphere that pervaded Europe in 1934, when Adolf Hitler had become a widely admired populist model for authoritarian nationalists, the Estonian elites viewed the threat of takeover by similar groups such as the Vaps movement as credible and imminent. Päts, using the authority of the newly adopted Constitution of 1933, proclaimed martial law on March 12. He appointed his trusted colleague Johan Laidoner, hero of the War of Independence but an opponent of the Vaps' leadership, as commander of the armed forces.