This chapter introduces the book’s central argument by situating the League of Nations within the political, intellectual, and moral aftermath of the First World War. It frames the postwar moment as a struggle between competing visions of international order, shaped by the collapse of empires and the search for new mechanisms of global stability. The chapter argues that debates over international institutions were also debates over power, hierarchy, and inclusion. By foregrounding the proposed internationalization of Constantinople, it establishes the book’s focus on the symbolic and spatial dimensions of global governance.