The financial crisis that began with the 1873 Vienna Stock Exchange crash and triggered a long depression was the Panic of 1873.
The crash occurred in Vienna on 9 May 1873, a day remembered as Gründerkrach, or “founders’ crash.” Speculative investment had surged in railways, real estate, and new companies, particularly in Austria-Hungary and Germany. When confidence broke, share prices fell sharply and several banks failed.
The panic spread internationally, reaching the United States after the failure of the investment bank Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873. The resulting depression affected banks, businesses, workers, and commodity prices. In the United States, the New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily during the crisis.
The Panic of 1873 is sometimes treated as the beginning of the Long Depression, which lasted through much of the 1870s and 1880s. It is distinct from the Panic of 1893, another severe American financial crisis two decades later.