This paper will focus on the far-reaching social and economic crisis in the early 19th century, which was the result of social and environmental factors, as it was made worse between 1815 and 1817 by the eruption of the Tambora volcano in April 1815. In older Slovenian and European historiography, the causes for this far-reaching social and economic crisis after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 were attributed to the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars; however, the causes for the crisis must be sought in much more complex circumstances. Our horizons were broadened by the research conducted by volcanologists and afterwards by interdisciplinary research, which also searched for historical material that contained information and testimonies about the volcanic eruption. Based on newly-discovered historical sources, this paper will present many elements of the crisis between 1815 and 1817. This crisis triggered a boom in certain economic and social practices, ranging from savings banks, where a saver’s money was insured for the first time; a boom in certain sciences; society was more susceptible to long-term changes to social institutions and to the establishment of soup kitchens, where an innovative, economical and filling stew was prepared – ričet; to cultural achievements, such as Frankenstein or the invention of the trolley.