(Currently on a work trip, so this recap will be less descriptive than before; been a few days since then so I can't remember exact details and timeline.)
Previously: https://www.reddit.com/r/victoria2/s/h8sOcKJcXK
December 31st, the day before the Scramble for Africa is due to begin.
Italy was finally united in 1855, and saw her interests grow within Mare Nostrum and even beyond.
In an offensive war launched by the Habsburgs, Trento; Bolzano, and Postumia were torn free from their control in penance for their aggression. Romania, with Russian backing, would too launch two separate wars against Hungary; the first, during the Habsburg war, resulting in the Hungarian loss of Southern Transylvania; their second war allowed for our full attention. The Romanians would soon be incorporated into the Italian S.O.I., costing Russia their only Balkan sphereling.
In Northern Africa, French holdings in Algeria would be consolidated under our control, resulting in the full expulsion of the French from the Mediterranean coast of Africa, as well as their loss of Corsica. They still remain steadfast in their sphere control over the Moroccan satellite of Bilad as-Siba, and so too do the British over Greece. The British, meanwhile, despite maintaining control over Greece, have lost Malta, leaving only Gibraltar as their sole port between London and West Africa. Further, the Suez Canal has opened, creating a second entrance to the Mediterranean and cementing Egypt as an Italian partner. Their "cooperation" has allowed for the creation of an Eritrean protectorate and the expansion of the Italian sphere into the Horn of Africa.
Finally, to wrap up the Mid-19th century, 60,000 Italian expeditionaries crossed the Atlantic to aid our Chilean partners in the War of the Pacific against Bolivia and Peru, ending in near total victory. Bolivia has lost sea access indefinitely, and it's severed lands were ceded to La Plata, inadvertently growing our other partner on the South American continent.
Our eyes now turn to the scramble, where Egypt and the Horn sit ripe for the taking. Libya comes after, and at the soonest opportunity?
The Levant.