He joined the military school in 1854, becoming an artillery
sub-lieutenant in 1859. As a captain, he took part in the coup of February 11, 1866, that toppled
Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the ruling
Domnitor of the
United Principalities. In 1867, he resigned from the
Romanian Army and started two newspapers:
Perseverenţa and
Democraţia, in which he supported
democratic ideas. Considered a "political agitator", he was arrested three times, including once in
Austria-Hungary, where he was imprisoned for several weeks in the fortress of
Arad. In August 1870, he took part in the
republican insurrection against the
Hohenzollern Domnitor,
Carol I, in
Ploieşti. The movement was suppressed and he was charged along with 40 other people, but the
Târgovişte court of law acquitted them. In his tongue-in-cheek account of the insurrection (
Boborul),
Ion Luca Caragiale named Candiano-Popescu as "President of the Republic", and claimed that he had appointed several of his collaborators into high office. In 1877, as the
War of Independence against the
Ottoman Empire began, Candiano, although he was a deputy in the
Romanian Parliament, joined the army to take part in the assault over
Grivitsa, being the commander of the 2nd Hunters' Battalion, receiving the
Order of St. George from
Alexander II, the
Emperor of
Russia. In 1880, he became Carol's
Adjutant, a position he held for 12 years. In 1894, he was named General of Cavalry. He wrote a volume of poetry,
Când n-aveam ce face (1866), and several war songs. ==References==