Which exchange crash in 1873 helped trigger the Long Depression after a speculative railway boom?

The Vienna Stock Exchange crash helped trigger the Long Depression after a speculative railway boom. The collapse, known as the Gründerkrach, struck Austria-Hungary on May 9, 1873, and spread financial fear through Europe and beyond.

During the preceding boom, investors poured money into railways, banks, and newly formed companies. Easy credit and optimistic expectations pushed share prices well above levels supported by sustainable profits. When confidence broke, many securities became difficult to sell.

The panic also affected Germany and the United States. In New York, the failure of the banking firm Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 contributed to a major financial crisis and a temporary closure of the stock exchange.

The event is sometimes treated as the beginning of the Long Depression, although historians debate its duration and economic pattern. It was not simply a stock-market fall: banking failures, deflation, industrial contraction, and falling commodity prices all contributed to the wider downturn.