The Ottoman Empire lasted some 600 years, and spanned three continents. It was not only their military campaigns that made the Ottomans a force to be reckoned with for centuries. In an era when neighboring states persecuted, exiled, or massacred their minorities, the Islamic Ottoman state was willing to tolerate difference. Its subjects included not only Muslims, but large numbers of Christians and Jews. As Ottoman power eventually ebbed, the diversity that been a strength in one era became a weakness in another. Changing political forces within and without the Empire created a toxic stew of ethnic and religious hatred. That hatred would finally boil over amid the carnage of World War I, and contribute to the Ottoman Empire's own death rattle.