Pig War (1906–08)

For the territory conflict between the United States and the British Empire, see Pig War.

The Pig War (Serbian: Свињски рат/Svinjski rat) or Customs War (Царински рат/Carinski rat) was a trade war between Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia in 1906–08 in which the Habsburgs unsuccessfully imposed a customs blockade on Serbian pork, turning the countries openly hostile to each other.

Background

At the beginning of the twentieth century Serbia was economically a satellite of the Habsburg empire, its major export being pork, most of which was bought by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When Serbia started trying to evade economic and political control by the Habsburgs, and build links with other countries, particularly Bulgaria and France, Vienna decided to punish the Serbs with economic sanctions. Specifically, in an attempt to reduce its economic dependence on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1904 Serbia began to import French rather than Austrian munitions and established a customs union with Bulgaria in 1905, making tariff-laden Austrian goods unsalable in Serbia.

History

Long used to setting economic policy, Austria 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 Austrian rival Germany, and pressured the Austrian-administrated provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a trade outlet on the Adriatic Sea, causing Austria to give up by March 1908. This can be seen in the trade statistics of the period in question, as published in the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Foreign Trade of the Kingdom of Serbia Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 Edition: Volume 24, pp. 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

Russia supported Serbia's actions, and war between Austria-Hungary and Russia was averted only because of a German ultimatum in 1909 demanding the cessation of Russian aid to Serbia.

See also

• Austro–Serbian Alliance of 1881

References

• Misha Glenny, The Balkans 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers (London: Granta, 1999), pp. 281–2.