Vienna saw a major stock-exchange collapse during the Panic of 1873.
The crisis erupted after the Vienna Stock Exchange crash on May 9, 1873, an event known as Black Friday in Austria. Speculation had driven rapid growth in companies and property, while investors expected continuing prosperity after the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s economic expansion.
When confidence broke, share prices collapsed and numerous banks and companies failed. Financial contagion spread to Germany and then across the Atlantic to the United States, where the failure of Jay Cooke & Company helped trigger a banking panic in September. The resulting depression lasted for years in many countries.
The Panic of 1873 is also linked to the end of the railway and construction boom in parts of Europe and North America. It is sometimes called the Long Depression, although historians debate how consistently that label applies across countries.