Pyrrhic victory

A Pyrrhic victory is battle won at too great a cost.

It is one in which the side that won the victory suffers very badly. A Pyrrhic victory may take place when the victorious army has lost a huge number of men or when the enemy army has reinforcements about to arrive which greatly outnumber the winning army and mean that the chances of a second victory are very low. A Pyrrhic victory is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus. He won a battle against the Romans in 280 BC but many of his men and most of his friends and top commanders died in the battle.

Pyrrhic Victory Media

• 

  James G. Blaine finally gained the 1884 Republican nomination for US president on his third attempt: "Another victory like this and our money's gone!"

• 

  Last stand and final charge from the fortress of Szigetvár (painting by Johann Peter Krafft, 1825)

• 

  Japanese aircraft prepare to take off from Shōkaku during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands

• 

  The ruined streets of Vukovar ten days after its surrender