Vienna saw its stock exchange crash in 1873, helping begin the Long Depression.
The Vienna Stock Exchange collapsed on May 9, 1873, in an event known as the Gründerkrach, or founders' crash. Speculative investment had surged in Austria-Hungary after financial reforms and economic expansion. When confidence broke, share prices plunged and numerous banks and companies failed.
Financial stress spread internationally, reaching Germany and the United States. In the United States, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke and Company in September 1873 helped trigger a severe panic and the temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange.
The Long Depression is not identical to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Historians debate its exact dates and severity, but it generally refers to a long period of deflation and weak growth from the 1870s into the 1890s. Vienna's crash was an important early link in that wider chain.