Pyrrhic victory – a victory gained at too great a cost
In 280 and 279 BC the Greek King Pyrrhus beat the Romans but suffered so many casualties proportionally that in the end he lost the war. In reference to the battles he won, Pyrrhus admitted that another such “victory” would be a disaster. It took over 2,000 years for the phase Pyrrhic victory to find its way into general English usage.
