What Is A Pyrrhic Victory?

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory in which the victor sustains such massive losses that it feels almost like a defeat. The phrase comes from a remark made by the Greek king Pyrrhus who came to Italy in 280 B.C. at the request of the Greek colonists of Tarentum to provide assistance against the Roman armies who were threatening them. Pyrrhus, assisted by elephants, which the Romans had never seen before, defeated a Roman army at Heracleum and, following the rejection of his peace overtures by the Romans, the next year won another victory against them at Asculum. This was the engagement that led to the phrase Pyrrhic victory. Pyrrhus' elite troops sustained massive losses in the encounter. On being congratulated on his victory nonetheless, Pyrrhus is said to have replied : "Another such victory and we are undone." Pyrrhus was eventually defeated by the Romans at Beneventum in 275 B.C. and all the Greek colonies in Italy had come under Roman control within a few years.

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