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The Zand dynasty was a short-lived persian dynasty estabilished during the succession struggle after Nader Shah's death. Its first (and only considerable) shah was Karim Khan Zand, notable for having stabilized Persia after years of war and being a compassionate ruler face his subjects (he is still remembered today as a national hero in Iran).
However, Karim was already old, and few of his sons showed much promise. There was also the issue of Persia being divided between the Zands in the south and west and the Qajars in Khorasan. After he died, the country devolved into another succession struggle between two of his favorite sons, and the Qajars took advantage of this to reunify the country.
So, say, what if Karim Khan's sons had been more competent or pragmatic towards each other, or what if he had only one son that was ambitious enough as to desire the throne, and competent enough to hold it?
How differently could post-Afsharid Persia develop if it was ruled by a dynasty other than the Qajars? I hear that Karim Khan had a smaller bureaucracy as he handled most state affairs by himself, and also that he "consulted" the imams less than they would like.
Could this iteration of Persia keep more territory than OTL's Qajars? Agha Mohammad Qajar pissed off the georgians and armenians, it seems to me.
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