Which stock exchange was at the center of the 1873 financial panic that began in Vienna?

The Vienna Stock Exchange was at the center of the 1873 financial panic that began in Vienna.

A speculative boom in Austria-Hungary ended abruptly on May 9, 1873, a day remembered as “Black Friday” in Vienna. Share prices collapsed, banks failed, and the panic spread through interconnected European financial markets before reaching the United States.

The crisis was linked to excessive speculation, rapid railway expansion, easy credit, and a sharp reversal in investor confidence. In the United States, the failure of Jay Cooke & Company in September 1873 helped trigger a major financial shock and the temporary closure of the New York Stock Exchange.

The panic is sometimes treated as an exclusively American event because of its severe U.S. consequences. Its opening market break, however, occurred at Vienna’s exchange, making the Vienna Stock Exchange the specific answer.