Winning a Battle but Losing the War

The concept derives from Pyrrhic victory, named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties defeating Romans at the Battles of Heraclea (280 BCE) and Asculum (279 BCE). Plutarch recorded Pyrrhus saying "one other such victory would utterly undo him." By the early 19th century, "Pyrrhic victory" described triumphs achieved at devastating cost. The phrase captures victories that prove strategic losses—winning individual engagements while losing broader objectives.