POD in 1866 :
- Prussia lost the Austrian-Prussian War of 1866, Prussia is humiliated, lost Silesia for Austria and leadership in Germany. Austria took revenge against Italy who allied with Prussia and Italy lost greatly.
........................................
Second POD :
France support Russia in its war of 1877 against the Ottoman Empire, and France and Italy decided to take its shares of the decaying Ottoman Empire... Italy took Tunesia and Libya, French took Egypt and big influences in the Levant : Palestine, Lebanon and Syria where the French and Russian Emperor become the protectors of local christians...
During the next oriental war, Ottoman Empire disaspeared reduced to a russian puppet state in Asia Minor...
I continue this TL :
In 1880, France is the dominant power in Europe with an alliance with Italy in the Med and with Russia in south-eastern Europe and the eastern Med...
France territory in Europe are OTL territory + Luxemburg and west bank Rhineland... Belgium felt treatened by french appetite for its territory...
Germany is divided between a northern confederation lead by Prussia and a southern confederation lead by Austria, Austro-Prussian war of 1866 and the supposed treason of Prussia during the war of 1872-1873 with France created a schism between both Germany...
Southern Germany (Baden, Wurtemberg, Bavaria) were pleased to not be treated poorly by France and escaped heavy war indemnities but local population are unfriendly to the French and its rulers...
Germany + Autria suffered greatly from both wars, 1866 and 1872-1873, both wars being fought on germans lands, heavy wars indemnities were paid, some rulers are very unpopular, some riots happened...
Austria is isolated, she tried to take a upper hand in Germany but loose a big war with France and Italy. Russia is also very unfriendly and the Balkans minors, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece become all russian aligned...
Suez canal was built by the french and the egyptian and its construction was opposed by the british. In this TL, the Egyptian ruler didn't sold its share to the british but to the french so confirming french power in Egypt who later become a protectorate.
Controlling all the Med with its allies (Italy, Russia) or its colony and puppets, France can support italian revendications on Malta, Greece revendications on Chypre (the british took it in 1878 because they try to help Ottoman Empire during the peace negociations)...
Having destroyed the power of Ottoman Empire in Europe, Russia tried to established influence in northern Irak, in Persia...
France began the conquest of Africa from Egypt in Sudan and the Red Sea, from Senegal to western Africa...
And she began to build a high sea fleet to protect its Empire...
In 1900-1920, the world is ready to war between France-Italy and Russia against a coalition of the UK, Germany and Austria...
The fighting can begin because France try to conquer Belgium or try to prevent a rising power in Germany who will try to reunite Germany...
Or a reunited Germany in 1880-1890 will try 20 or 30 years later to reconquer germans provinces on the west banks of the Rhine...