Which 1873 financial panic began after the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange?

The financial panic that began after the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange was the Panic of 1873.

On May 9, 1873, the Vienna Stock Exchange crashed in an event known as the Gründerkrach, or Founders’ Crash. Speculative investment had driven a boom in companies, railways, and property across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When confidence broke, prices plunged and many institutions failed.

The panic spread internationally, including to Germany and the United States. In the United States, the failure of the investment bank Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger a major financial crisis. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily, and the resulting depression lasted for years.

The terms can be confusing because historians use “Panic of 1873” for the broader international crisis, while “Long Depression” describes the prolonged economic downturn that followed. The Vienna crash was an important opening shock, but it was not the only cause of the worldwide depression.