Llewellyn's war adventure has become a legend among American law teachers. Although the main facts are not in dispute, several different accounts have survived which diverge on matters of detail. The version which is perhaps nearest to the historical truth and to the spirit of the legend can be made to read like the outline for a psychological novel: a young, articulate, somewhat romantic American student finds himself in Paris at the outbreak of the first world war. He has been at school in Germany, has German friends, a love of German culture, some sympathy with the German cause. He witnesses a surge of anti-German feeling in Paris; he is irritated by predictions in the English press that Germany will be defeated within three months; he is avid for experience; although he is troubled by the grimmer side of war, his predominating feelings are excitement and a sense of adventure; he is aware that war service will give him status back home. He decides to enlist on the German side. He has difficulty in getting out of France. Ironically, to get to Germany he has to cross to England and double back through Holland. He crosses the German border by train in the company of refugees. At each station he attempts to enlist, but is refused, until he reaches Osnabruck where he joins the 78th Prussian Infantry. He refuses to take the oath of allegiance to the Kaiser, as this would involve forfeiting his American citizenship, and so there is some doubt as to his eligibility for membership of the Kaiser's army.