Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
The novel, which is in part autobiographical, "turned its author, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, into a major literary celebrity almost overnight." [Furtado: 1001 Days] "The classic statement was provided by Goethe in his autobiography: “The first true and really vital material of the higher order came into German literature through Frederick the Great and the deeds of the Seven Years’ War.” Frederick’s heroic feats, he argued further, gave Prussia, and with it all Protestant Germany, a priceless cultural advantage which Austria and the Catholics were never able to match." [Blanning: Frederick the Great, Kindle, p. 381]