Pig War (1906)

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The Pig War was a customs war between Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia that broke out in 1906 and lasted until 1908 and 1911 respectively. The Habsburg Monarchy tried unsuccessfully to use economic means to put Serbia under pressure in economic and political questions after a trade agreement had expired.

course

Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić endeavored to reduce economic dependence on its northern neighbor through rapprochement with France and a trade agreement with Bulgaria . The Hungarian Fejérváry government closed the border for imports from Serbia in January 1906 because of the alleged risk of epidemics. On July 7, 1906, Austria-Hungary generally refused Serbia the import and transit of cattle, poultry and agricultural products. An economic disaster in the small Balkan country was the result. The Danube Monarchy led Serbian agriculture to the brink of ruin by closing the borders for Serbian pork and other foods. However, Belgrade did not give in, as it did earlier on similar occasions, but reacted by introducing a maximum tariff on all goods from the territory of its most important trading partner.

By reorienting its trade relationships and building up its own meat processing industry, the embargo was ultimately overcome. This ultimately led to the economic separation of Serbia from the Habsburg monarchy. Austria-Hungary, which before the conflict had purchased 88% of Serbian exports and provided around 58% of imports, only handled 30% of Serbia's foreign trade afterwards.

In Vienna , the measures against the small neighbor were quite controversial: In October 1906, Foreign Minister Gołuchowski had to resign under pressure from Hungary. Hungary took an even tougher course to protect its own agriculture. Serbian industry flourished during the conflict. Business start-ups were encouraged to diversify the economy. Half of all factories in existence in 1914 were not founded until after 1906. Increased capital flowed into the country, aided by the tariff barriers for foreign import competition.

The failure of Austrian politics in the pig war was also due to the fact that the allied German Empire did not support the measures, but even took over large parts of the trade volume with Serbia itself. The tariff war ended for the time being in March 1908 with a much less favorable trade agreement for Serbia.

As a result of the pig war, Serbia's urge for access to the Adriatic increased in order to be able to completely break away from the Danube monarchy economically. The conflicts between neighboring states intensified and led to a climax in the Bosnian annexation crisis in 1908, which almost resulted in a European war.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Géza Andreas von Geyr : Sándor Wekerle. 1848-1921. The political biography of a Hungarian statesman of the Danube Monarchy. (= Southeast European Works 91). Munich 1993, ISBN 3-486-56037-9 , pp. 251f.
  2. ^ A b c Marie-Janine Calic : Social history of Serbia, 1815-1941. The halting progress during industrialization. Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-48656-090-5 , pp. 170f.
  3. ^ Edgar Hösch: History of the Balkan countries. Beck, Munich 1968, ISBN 3-406572995 , p. 181.
  4. ^ Gołuchowski Agenor Maria Adam Graf. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1959, p. 29 f. (Direct links on p. 29 , p. 30 ).
  5. ^ Adam Wandruszka , Walter Urbanitsch (Ed.): The Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918. Volume 6: The Habsburg Monarchy in the System of International Relations. 1st volume, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7001-1682-9 , p. 327.