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Defined as scoring a type of victory at the expense of sacrificing most of a persons materials and resources in order gain the victory. Named for an ancient Roman general who scored such a major victory.
It's called a "_______ victory".

2007-02-16 21:08:23 · 4 answers · asked by quantumview 5 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

4 answers

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor. The phrase is an allusion to King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties when he defeated the Romans during the Pyrrhic War at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC. 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 more 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." [1]
Ironically, in both of Pyrrhus's victories, the Romans lost more men than Pyrrhus did. However, the Romans had a much larger supply of men from which to draw soldiers and their losses did less to their war effort than Pyrrhus's losses did to his.

The report is often quoted as "Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone". While it is most closely associated with a military battle, the term is used by analogy in fields such as business, politics, law, and sport to describe any similar struggle which is ruinous for the victor.

2007-02-16 21:14:43 · answer #1 · answered by ♥!BabyDoLL!♥ 5 · 0 0

Pyrrhic victory

2007-02-16 21:12:52 · answer #2 · answered by 7tween 3 · 0 0

Olympus victory

2007-02-16 23:04:49 · answer #3 · answered by purplecharm 1 · 0 0

Pyrrhic

2007-02-16 21:17:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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