February 3, 1873.
Vienna, Austria.
For Austrians, all of 1872 had been unforgettable. Like the rest of the world, Austria's market had enjoyed unprecedented prosperity that year. Coupled with Austria's defeat of Italy and reclamation of Venice, it had made Austrians even happier.
The twin victories in the economy and the military were the greatest boost to any nation's confidence. Economic overheating had already created vast numbers of jobs, and when war broke out, military recruitment began as well. Under such circumstances, Austrians had become far less keen on emigrating overseas.
The most direct manifestation was that in 1872, the number of Austrian emigrants heading to East Africa plummeted off a cliff to fewer than five thousand for the entire year. Since the Austrian government intended to bring Germans into Venice, migration had shifted away from East Africa and primarily toward the cities and Venice.
Since 1848, the only major setback Austria had suffered was its defeat in the Prussian-Austrian War, when Prussia kicked it out of the German territories.
Yet Austria's economy had not been affected in the slightest. Austria's industrialization had been somewhat slower than France's and Prussia's, but it had still been advancing at breakneck speed.
Railway construction was the most direct reflection of this economic state. Between 1859 and 1872, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had built more than seven thousand kilometers of railways. The figures might not have matched those of the other great powers, but they were still astonishing. This period had also been the stage of railway privatization in Austria.
Yet all of this took a turn at the end of 1872. By then, bonds issued by seventy-six railway companies in the Austro-Hungarian Empire had defaulted. Of 384 listed railway companies, 279 had no dividends to distribute at all.
Yet railway shares had continued to