290 FENIKS
independence in November 1918 from the subsequent campaigns fought to pre-
serve and defend that independence, he can only conclude that the wishes and
actions of the Polish population were, to the very last moment, largely irrele-
vant. To at least one sceptical commentator, the creation of an independent
Poland in 1918 was the result of 'a fluke'. To people of a religious turn of mind,
it looked like a miracle.