Another tip; there's a 'Pan-Slavic movement' event ca. April 1851. If you do it, then you'll greatly increase the militancy in these same realms which you seek to acquire. If you decline, then you lose some prestige. Thus I try to beat this to the punch (as well as the whole Crimean War fiasco) by securing the Tsar of all Slavs event no later than early April, 1851.
Another thing, once you've gotten all the land, you'll get a series of events asking if you want to create 'client states' (satellites) in the Balkans. Naturally you'll say no, right? Annexation is preferrable. That will increase militancy as well, a bit. Combine this with the Romanian nationalism events, the Pan-Slavic movement, and then the "you ain't gonna have independence", things can get pretty volatile down there in the Balkans. So, the earlier you can get this done, the better. Volatility only increases in these lands, as time goes on.
Btw, you can totally exploit the Ottomans. All you need is Sofia, Bucharest, Beograd, Tirana, and Constantinople. For those last 2, I just do surprise amphibious landings. The first 2... are very close to your border. Now just send a cavalry force racing into Beograd... and you can easily get this done in less than 3 months, before the Ottoman's can bring their mobilizing army into the fight. In fact, most of their standing army in the east won't even make it in time. Tirana will be empty. Fund your navy in advance, and send the entire might of the Russian fleet to ensure victory at Constantinople.
They won't know what hit them. And now, with this new border... you have a territory that looks fantastic to launch a massive pincer attack on Austria, and encircle all of Hungary. I usually do this in 1866, when they're busy in a hard fight against Prussia.
But yeah, to heck with the Crimean War. Fighting several major powers at this juncture is just counter-productive. Rather, become an ally of France. Gang-bang Prussia in 1870. Join the war right when all their forces are on their western front, fighting France. Overrun them entirely. Then with France, start figuring out a way to scheme against Britain. Oh yeah, baby. Sink that RN, good-style.
