A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he successfully staged a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. After being officially appointed Chancellor by Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Imperial German hegemony in continental Europe.