What event began the long global market downturn known as the Panic of 1873?

The event that began the long global market downturn known as the Panic of 1873 was the Vienna Stock Exchange crash.

On 9 May 1873, heavy speculation in Austrian companies ended abruptly on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The collapse became known as the Gründerkrach, or founders’ crash, and helped trigger a broader financial crisis across Europe and North America.

Railways, construction companies, and other ventures had attracted large amounts of credit and speculative investment. When confidence failed, share prices fell, banks came under pressure, and business failures spread. The Vienna shock was important, but it was part of a wider international sequence rather than the sole cause.

The crisis later reached the United States, where the failure of Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped close the New York Stock Exchange temporarily. The resulting depression lasted for years and is often called the Long Depression.