Some historians argue that the failure of the 1919 treaty was inevitable. "Human beings," they say, "will always find ways to turn communication into competition." Others believe the treaty was actually successful for after all, Europe had not experienced another catastrophic world war. But there is a third interpretation, one that Warsaw understands better than anyone. The treaty did not fail. It simply worked too well. The sword disappeared and the word remained and once the word became the primary instrument of conflict, the battlefield expanded to include everything that could be spoken which meant the war would never end because language never stops.
The Big Four had hoped their treaty would close the chapter on the age of swords. In a sense, they succeeded. But in another sense, they failed for they opened another chapter without realizing it, a chapter where arguments became battles, reputation became life and meaning itself became the most dangerous substance on Earth. Where a single sentence—spoken at the wrong time, in the wrong place—could begin a war no army could stop.
The age of semantic governance had begun. The Logomachy was only getting started.