What was the 1873 Vienna Stock Exchange collapse commonly called?

The 1873 Vienna Stock Exchange collapse was commonly called Black Friday.

On May 9, 1873, speculative excesses broke at the Vienna Stock Exchange, producing a sharp collapse in share prices. The event became known as Black Friday in Austria and is widely treated as the immediate trigger for the Panic of 1873. The panic then spread through financial connections to Germany and the United States.

The wider crisis followed years of rapid railway construction, credit expansion, and speculation in Europe and North America. When expected profits failed to appear, investors and banks faced falling asset values and reduced liquidity. The downturn produced banking failures, business failures, deflationary pressure, and a prolonged period of weak growth.

The Panic of 1873 should not be confused with the 1929 Wall Street crash, which occurred more than five decades later. In the United States, the 1873 panic helped begin what was later called the Long Depression, although the duration and terminology remain subjects of historical debate.