The 1873 financial crisis that began in Vienna and spread through Europe and the United States was called the Panic of 1873.
The crisis followed a period of rapid railway construction, property speculation, and easy credit. In Vienna, the stock-market crash of May 1873 undermined confidence. Financial stress then spread to other European markets and reached the United States, where the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company helped trigger a major panic in September.
The resulting downturn was unusually long. Historians often call the broader period the Long Depression, although its severity and timing varied by country. Falling prices, business failures, bank failures, and unemployment affected industrial economies for years.
The Panic of 1873 is sometimes confused with the Long Depression because the names describe different things. “Panic of 1873” identifies the financial crisis and its starting year, while “Long Depression” refers to the prolonged economic downturn that followed. The crisis also contributed to debates over monetary policy and the gold standard.