A victory at a cost tantamount to defeat

A Pyrrhic victory ( PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Winning a Pyrrhic victory takes a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

The phrase originates from a quote from Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose triumph against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC destroyed much of his forces and – while a tactical victory – forced the end of his campaign.

Etymology [ edit ]

Pyrrhic victory is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea in 280 BC and the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC, during the Pyrrhic War. After the latter battle, Plutarch relates in a report by Dionysius:

The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one other such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war. Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus[1]

In both Epirote victories, the Romans suffered greater casualties but they had a much larger pool of replacements, so the casualties had less impact on the Roman war effort than the losses of King Pyrrhus.

The report is often quoted as

Ne ego si iterum eodem modo uicero, sine ullo milite Epirum reuertar.

Another such victory and I come back to Epirus alone. Orosius[2]

or

If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined. Plutarch[3]

The term entered the English vernacular due to popular misconceptions of the magnitude of Pyrrhus's losses: beginning before the 1800s, Latin history teaching books said that Pyrrhus suffered losses in the tens of thousands.[4][original research?]

Examples [ edit ]

Battles [ edit ]

This list comprises examples of battles that ended in a Pyrrhic victory. It is not intended to be complete but to illustrate the concept.

The ruined streets of Vukovar ten days after its surrender

Other uses [ edit ]

The term is used as an analogy in business, politics and sport to describe struggles that end up ruining the victor. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr commented on the necessity of coercion in preserving the course of justice by warning,

Moral reason must learn how to make coercion its ally without running the risk of a Pyrrhic victory in which the ally exploits and negates the triumph. Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr[27]

In Beauharnais v. Illinois, a 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a charge proscribing group libel, Associate Justice Black alluded to Pyrrhus in his dissent,

If minority groups hail this holding as their victory, they might consider the possible relevancy of this ancient remark: "Another such victory and I am undone". Hugo Black[28]

Related terms [ edit ]

Win the battle but lose the war [ edit ]

A related expression is "winning the battle but losing the war". This describes a poor strategy that wins a lesser objective, but overlooks and loses the larger objective. In less militaristic terms, this phrase is applied to situations where a small victory may be achieved but the "overarching goal" is lost.[29] Examples include:

Hollow victory [ edit ]

A "hollow victory" or "empty victory" is one in which the victor gains little or nothing.[37] Examples include:

In a murder trial, where a guilty verdict brings justice for the victim, but the family is still bereft. [38] [39]

A court-martial clears an officer of blame in a military accident, but the death and damage cannot be undone. [40]

A civil case is decided in favor of the plaintiff, but the awarded amount of money or property is less than was spent to bring the lawsuit. [41]

Victory in a battle or war which, by winning, caused additional problems in the future. [42] [43]

A campaign that did not achieve its goals despite the claims of victory.[44]

See also [ edit ]