The 1873 financial panic that helped begin the Long Depression was called the Panic of 1873.
A stock-market crash in Vienna in May 1873, known as the Gründerkrach, was followed by financial stress in other parts of Europe. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September triggered a major panic and helped lead to the temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange.
The crisis was connected to excessive railway investment, speculative finance, falling prices, and failures among banks and businesses. The resulting depression was especially prolonged in Europe and North America, although historians debate the timing and severity of the period’s economic decline.
The Panic of 1873 is often confused with later U.S. panics, such as those of 1893 and 1907. Its importance lies in how financial shocks crossed borders during an era of expanding railways, international capital, and industrialization.