The 1873 crisis that began after the failure of the Vienna stock exchange and spread across Europe and the United States was the Panic of 1873.
The Vienna stock-market crash occurred in May 1873 after speculative investment in railways and property had pushed prices far above sustainable levels. Financial distress spread through European markets and then reached the United States, where the failure of Jay Cooke & Company in September helped trigger a banking panic.
The crisis contributed to a prolonged international depression, often called the Long Depression. Falling prices, bankruptcies, unemployment, and reduced investment affected industrial economies for years, although historians debate the exact duration and severity of the depression.
The Panic of 1873 is distinct from the Panic of 1893, which also involved U.S. railroad finance and banking failures. It also predates the Federal Reserve, which was created decades later in response to later financial instability.