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A Pyrrhic victory (/ ˈ p ɪr ɪ k / ⓘ PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. [1] Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.
Pyrrhus lends his name to the term "Pyrrhic victory", which stems from a statement he is alleged to have made following the Battle of Asculum. In response to congratulations for winning a costly victory over the Romans, he is reported to have said: "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined". [39]
The Pyrrhic War was the first time that Rome confronted the professional mercenary armies of the Hellenistic states of the eastern Mediterranean. Rome's victory drew the attention of these states to the emerging power of Rome. Ptolemy II, the king of Egypt, established diplomatic relations with Rome. [2]
The Battle of Asculum [2] was a poorly documented battle that took place near Asculum (modern Ascoli Satriano) in 279 BC, and was thought to have lasted either one or two days, between the Roman Republic under the command of the consuls Publius Decius Mus (who by some accounts died before the battle) and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, and the forces of King Pyrrhus of Epirus.
This is the origin of the term "Pyrrhic victory". According to one tradition, Decius died in the field; [1] according to another, he survived. Both his father and grandfather had fallen in battle after performing the ritual of devotio before the troops [2] [3], before rushing the enemy.
Following this Allied victory, the German Senger Line collapsed on 25 May, and the German defenders were driven from their positions. [7] The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded. [3] The battle has been described as a Pyrrhic victory. [8] [9]
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The Gothic War is often viewed as a pyrrhic victory, which drained the Byzantine Empire of resources that might have been employed against more serious threats in western Asia and the Balkans. In the east, pagan Slavs and Kutrigurs raided and devastated the Byzantine provinces south of the Danube from 517.