The Pig War (Serbian: Свињски рат, romanizedSvinjski rat, German: Schweinekrieg, Hungarian: Disznóháború), or Customs War (Царински рат/Carinski rat), was a trade war between Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia in 1906 to 1908 during which the Habsburgs unsuccessfully imposed a customs blockade on Serbian pork.

Background

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In the early 20th century, Serbia was economically a satellite of the Habsburgs, its major export being pork, most of which was bought by Austria-Hungary. When Serbia started trying to evade economic and political control by the Habsburgs and to build links with other countries, particularly Bulgaria, Germany and France, the Hungarian government decided to punish the Serbs with economic sanctions. Specifically, in an attempt to reduce its economic dependence on Austria-Hungary, Serbia began to import French, rather than Austro-Hungarian, munitions and established a commercial treaty with Germany in 1904 and a customs union with Bulgaria in 1905 that ended the sale of tariff-laden Austrian goods in Serbia.[1]: 23 

History

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Long used to setting economic policy, Austria-Hungary responded in April 1906 by closing its borders to Serbian pork. Serbia refused to bow to Vienna, gained French investment to build new packing plants for international trade, began to order materials from the Austro-Hungarian rival Germany and pressured the Austrian-administered provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a trade outlet on the Adriatic Sea.[1] That caused Austria-Hungary to concede the conflict by March 1908, as can be shown by the trade statistics of the period in question:[2]

Foreign Trade of the Kingdom of Serbia
EB1911 page 688
1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
Exports (thousand GBP): 2,486 2,879 2,864 3,259 3,019
Imports (thousand GBP): 2,437 2,224 1,773 2,823 3,025
Trade Balance (thousand GBP): 49 655 1,091 436 -6
Exports/Imports (%):
Rounded to the nearest %
102 129 162 115 100

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Clark, Christopher M. (2012). The Sleepwalkers : How Europe Went to War in 1914. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9942-6. OCLC 794136314.
  2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Servia" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 686–698, see page 688. Commerce
  • Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers (London: Granta, 1999), pp. 281–2.