Pig War (1906–1908)

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Events leading to World War I
Unification of Germany 1866–1871 Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871 Second Concert of Europe 1871 Great Eastern Crisis 1875–1878 Campaign in Bosnia 1878 Dual Alliance 1879 Boer Wars 1880–1902 Austro–Serbian Alliance 1881–1903 Triple Alliance 1882 Berlin Conference 1884 Bulgarian Crisis 1885–1888 Reinsurance Treaty 1887–1890 Franco-Russian Alliance 1894 First Sino-Japanese War 1894–1895 Anglo-German naval arms race 1898–1912 Fashoda Incident 1898 Anglo-Japanese Alliance 1902 May Coup 1903 Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905 Entente Cordiale 1904 First Moroccan Crisis 1905–1906 Pig War 1906–1908 Anglo-Russian Convention 1907 Young Turk Revolution 1908 Bosnian Crisis 1908–1909 Racconigi Bargain 1909 Second Moroccan Crisis 1911 Italo-Turkish War 1911–1912 Balkan Wars 1912–1913 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand 1914 July Crisis 1914
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The Pig War (Serbian: Свињски рат, romanized: Svinjski 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.

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

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]

• Austro–Serbian Alliance of 1881

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