Vienna was the city whose stock exchange suffered the first major shock in the Panic of 1873, helping spread the crash across Europe. The Vienna stock-market collapse began in early May, and the panic became especially severe after the exchange crash on May 9.
Austria-Hungary had experienced rapid speculation in railways, construction, and property during an expansionary period. When investors began selling, confidence collapsed and many banks and companies failed. The panic then spread to other European financial centers and later across the Atlantic.
The crisis reached the United States in September 1873 after the failure of the investment firm Jay Cooke & Company. The New York Stock Exchange closed temporarily, and a long economic contraction followed.
Although historians debate the precise causes and timing of the wider depression, Vienna is the standard answer for the first major exchange shock in the 1873 panic. It is distinct from later U.S. episodes sometimes also called financial panics.