The 1873 stock-market panic began the long downturn known as the Long Depression in Europe and North America.
The crisis started in Vienna in May 1873 and reached the United States after the failure of the investment firm Jay Cooke & Company in September. Railway speculation, excessive credit, and falling returns on infrastructure investments made financial systems vulnerable.
The resulting depression lasted for years, although historians disagree about its precise length and whether “Long Depression” is the best label. Industrial production, prices, wages, and investment were affected differently across countries.
It is sometimes confused with the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 1873 downturn was earlier and generally involved prolonged deflation and stagnation rather than the same worldwide banking collapse seen after 1929.