The 1873 financial crash that began in Vienna and spread across Europe and the United States was called the Panic of 1873.
The crisis followed a period of heavy railway construction, real-estate speculation, and rapid industrial expansion. In Vienna, the failure of the stock-market firm Gründerbank helped trigger the May 1873 crash known as the Gründerkrach. Financial stress then spread through European markets and reached the United States later that year.
In the United States, the failure of the investment bank Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped set off a banking panic. The New York Stock Exchange temporarily closed, and the downturn contributed to a long period of weak economic activity often called the Long Depression.
The Panic of 1873 was not a single-day worldwide stock collapse. It was a broader financial crisis involving banks, railways, credit, and property markets. The event also helped end the speculative railway boom of the era.