The 1873 financial crisis that caused major stock-market turmoil in Europe and the United States was called the Panic of 1873.
The crisis began in Vienna in May 1873 and spread to other financial centers, including Berlin and New York. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger a market collapse and a suspension of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Railway speculation, excessive construction, and overextended credit were important background factors. The crisis was followed by a prolonged period of weak growth and falling prices often called the Long Depression, although historians debate the precise boundaries and severity of that label.
The Panic of 1873 is sometimes confused with the Long Depression itself. The panic refers to the financial crisis and market shock; the depression describes the much longer economic downturn that followed in several countries.