What was the 1873 German stock-market crash popularly called?

The 1873 German stock-market crash was popularly called the Gründerkrach. The German term means “founders’ crash” and refers to the collapse of speculative investment after the boom that followed German unification and the Franco-Prussian War.

Investors had poured money into newly established companies, especially railways, banks and property ventures. Easy credit and optimistic expectations pushed share prices and company formations upward. When confidence reversed, many ventures failed and German markets fell sharply.

The Gründerkrach formed part of the broader Panic of 1873, which also included the Vienna crash in May and the United States crisis later that year. It is often linked to the end of the Gründerzeit, the earlier period of rapid industrial expansion, though the two terms describe different things: one names an era, the other its financial collapse.