The Panic of 1873 began in 1873, triggering a major stock-market crash in Europe and the United States. The crisis followed speculative railway investment, rapid credit expansion, and failures in property and banking markets.
A key early shock came with the collapse of the Vienna stock market in May 1873. In September, the failure of the investment bank Jay Cooke & Company helped spark panic in the United States. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange was suspended for the first time, for ten days.
The downturn contributed to a long period of weak prices and unemployment sometimes called the Long Depression. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Britain, and the United States all experienced financial stress, although timing and severity differed. The panic demonstrated how interconnected railway finance, banks, and international capital had become.