The 1873 financial crisis that spread from Vienna to other markets was called the Panic of 1873.
The crisis began with the failure of the Vienna stock exchange in May 1873. Speculative investment in railways, property, and other ventures had expanded rapidly, and the collapse undermined confidence in financial institutions. Problems then spread to Germany and the United States.
In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger a market shutdown in New York. The New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time in its history, remaining shut for ten days. Bank failures and reduced investment contributed to a prolonged economic downturn.
Historians often connect the panic with the Long Depression, a period of falling prices and weak growth that lasted through much of the late nineteenth century. Terminology varies by country: the same broad era may be called the Great Depression of the nineteenth century, but that name is distinct from the 1930s Great Depression.