Which stock exchange crash in 1873 helped start the Long Depression in Europe and North America?

The Vienna Stock Exchange crash in May 1873 helped start the Long Depression in Europe and North America.

A speculative boom in Austria-Hungary had driven stock prices and construction activity upward. On May 9, 1873, known as Black Friday in Vienna, prices collapsed at the Vienna Stock Exchange. The panic spread through European financial markets and contributed to a major downturn.

The United States experienced its own financial panic later that year after the failure of the investment firm Jay Cooke and Company in September. Railroads had expanded rapidly, often with heavy borrowing, and investors became less confident that expected returns could justify those debts.

The downturn is called the Long Depression because it lasted for many years, although its intensity varied by country and sector. It was not the same event as the Great Depression of the 1930s. Historians also debate the exact length and severity of the Long Depression, but the 1873 financial crises clearly marked its beginning.