The 1873 crisis that began with the Vienna Stock Exchange crash and spread through Europe and the United States was the Panic of 1873.
A speculative boom in railways, construction, and real estate had encouraged heavy borrowing in Europe and North America. On May 9, 1873, the Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, helping trigger a wider financial panic. In the United States, the failure of the investment bank Jay Cooke & Company in September caused runs and contributed to the temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange.
The crisis produced bank failures, business collapses, falling prices, and prolonged unemployment. The extended economic downturn is often called the Long Depression, although historians debate its exact duration and severity across countries. It lasted far longer than the initial exchange collapse.
A common mix-up is treating the Panic of 1873 as a purely American event. Its financial shocks crossed the Atlantic, and railway speculation was a major shared source of vulnerability.