Ioan Sterca-Şuluţiu was an ethnic Romanian

Romanians

The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 bureaucrat in the administration of Imperial Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, owner of gold mines at Abrud

Abrud

Abrud is a town in the north-western part of Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, located on the river Abrud. It administers three villages: Abrud-Sat, Gura Cornei and Soharu.-Population:...

, and the brother of Greek-Catholic

Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic

The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....

 Metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 Alexandru Sterca-Şuluţiu

Alexandru Sterca-Sulutiu

Alexandru Sterca-Şuluţiu, also called Alexandru Sterca-Şuluţiu de Cărpiniş , was an ethnic Romanian Eastern Catholic cleric in Imperial Austrian Transylvania, and the Metropolitan of the Transylvanian Greek Catholic Church...

. He was the father of the judge Dionisie Sterca-Şuluţiu and of the historian Iosif Sterca-Şuluţiu.

Born in Abrud, present-day Alba County

Alba County

Alba is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, its capital city being Alba-Iulia with a population of 66,406.- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 382,747 and the population density was 61/km².* Romanians - 90.4%* Hungarians - 5.4%...

, Şuluţiu served as an officer in the Imperial and Royal Army

Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars

The Imperial and Royal Army was that of the Austrian Empire, formed on 11 August 1804 preceding the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Habsburgs, under Emperor Francis II .-Background to the army:...

 during the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

.

In 1848, his house in Abrud served as a meeting place for the ethnic Romanian leaders of the Transylvanian revolution that year

Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas

From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...

, and as a place of refuge for participants in the Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n revolutionary movement. Alexandru G. Golescu

Alexandru G. Golescu

Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 .-Early life:...

 stayed in Şuluţiu's house until Russian troops entered Transylvania, when he fled to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

As an experienced soldier, Şuluţiu was the tactical leader of the 1848 Romanian military operations in the Apuseni Mountains

Apuseni Mountains

The Apuseni Mountains is a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Carpathians, also called Occidentali in Romanian. Their name translates from Romanian as Mountains "of the sunset" i.e. "western". The highest peak is "Cucurbăta Mare" - 1849 metres, also called Bihor...

 against the Hungarian revolutionary government. It was he who invented the legendary wooden cannons used by Avram Iancu

Avram Iancu

Avram Iancu was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an important role in the local chapter of the Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849. He was especially active in the Ţara Moţilor region and the Apuseni Mountains...

.

With Şuluţiu acting as intermediary, the Austrian commander of the citadel at Alba Iulia

Alba Iulia

Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...

 sent munitions to the inhabitants of the mountains

Tara Motilor

Țara Moților , also known as Țara de Piatră is an ethnogeographical region of Romania in the Apuseni Mountains, on the superior basin of the Arieș and Crişul Alb River rivers...

, in order to bolster their resistance against the pressure of the revolutionary Hungarian armies.

Şuluţiu also distinguished himself after the end of the revolution, by developing Romanian enterprises in Transylvania.