The 1873 financial crisis was known as the Panic of 1873.
The panic began in Vienna in May 1873 after the speculative boom surrounding the city's world exhibition collapsed. Financial stress then spread to Germany and the United States. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September triggered a major stock-market panic and the first temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange.
The crisis contributed to a prolonged period of weak prices, bankruptcies, and unemployment often called the Long Depression. Historians debate the exact dates and severity of that depression, but its effects were felt across industrial economies.
The Panic of 1873 is sometimes confused with the later Panic of 1893, which also involved railroad finance and widespread bank failures. The 1873 crisis was closely connected to railroad speculation, rapid industrial expansion, and international financial links.