Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Pyrrhic Victory

Episode Date: October 21, 2020

In a previous episode, I talked about how you can win by not losing. That is called the Fabian Strategy named after Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus. However, the opposite is true as well. You can lose by winning. Here too, ancient history has examples for us, this time in the case of King Pyrrhus, who defeated the Romans but ultimately lost without losing a battle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a previous episode, I talked about how you can win by not losing. That's called the Fabian strategy, named after Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus. However, the opposite is true as well. You can lose by winning. Here, too, ancient history has an example for us, this time in the case of King Pyrrhus, who defeated the Romans, but ultimately lost without losing a battle. Learn more about Pyrrhic victories and how we can win the battle and still lose the war on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok.

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They hadn't yet conquered the Italian peninsula, and they were still fighting with their neighbors. In the southern part of Italy, near the toe and the heel of the boot, were several Greek colonies. Across the Adriatic Sea, just south of the heel of the boot of Italy, was the kingdom of Apiris. Apirus was located where Greece and Albania meet today, near the area near the island of Corfu. A Pyrus was a Greek kingdom, which usually isn't mentioned in the same category as places like Sparta, Athens, or Corinth. They lived in a mountainous area with smaller communities, not the larger cities that could be found in the rest of the Greek peninsula. In 307 BC, a 13-year-old named Pyrus was named King, who was subsequently dethroned and then put back into power about a decade later. Pyrrhus was actually a really good general as ancient generals go.

Just to give you an idea, when the Carthaginian general Hannibal, you remember him back from the Fabian Strategy episode, was asked later in life who the greatest general in history was, he put himself third behind Alexander the Great and Pyrrhus. That's pretty good company. Pyrus' contribution to this story came from the Pyrrhic Wars, which started around 280 BC. The Greek city of Tarentum, down near the heel of Italy, was having problems with the Romans, so they called on Pyrrhus for help. Pyrrhus came over with some more elephants, some of the first ever to appear on the Italian peninsula. Not surprisingly, given his status as a great general, he had a lot of success against the Romans. Pyrrhus had a force of about 70,000 men, which was equal in size to the Roman force. He successfully defeated the Romans at the Battle of Heraclaea, and then at the Battle of Asculum. At each battle, he inflicted heavy casualties on the Romans and won the field that day.

The problem was he also suffered heavy losses, almost as bad as the Roman. The Romans, fighting in Italy, were able to send for reinforcements. Pyrrhus, fighting with mercenaries and across the sea from his home, could not. The famous quote came from the life of Pyrrhus by Plutarch. He wrote, and I quote, The army separated, and it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy for his victory, that one other such victory would utterly undo him, for he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all of his particular friends and principal commanders.

There were no others there to make recruits, and he found the Confederates in Italy backwards. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled with fresh men, not at all abating and courage for the loss they had sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war. unquote. Pyrrhus left Italy to go to Sicily to fight with the Carthaginians and eventually fought to a draw in one final battle with the Romans at the Battle of Beneventum before returning home. After he left Italy, the Romans conquered Tarentum, which was the whole point of him going there in the first place. After never having lost a battle, Pyrrhus had lost the war. And this is where the notion of a Pyrrhic victory comes from. Pyrrhic victories, in a narrow sense, are victories that come at a great cost. An example from American history would be the Battle of Bunker Hill from the American Revolution. Most Americans have heard of the Battle of Bunker Hill, but at most don't realize that the battle was actually won by the British. The British won the field, but at a terrible cost. They took over a thousand casualties, including 81 officers killed or wounded, which left them weakened and unable to defend or hold on to the city of Boston. The Americans had less

than half the number of casualties. In 1812 at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon forced the Russians into retreat. However, the total combined casualties that day were between 70 to 80,000. Even though Napoleon eventually marched into Moscow, he won nothing. Pyrrhic victories can be found outside the battlefield as well. Another example would be the folklore story of John Henry. He was a railroad worker who believed that he could beat a steam engine when it came to tunneling through rock. In a contest with the steam engine, he won, and then he died. A total Pyrrhic victory. McDonald's once filed a lawsuit against some environmental activists in Britain who were distributing flyers which McDonald's said were libelous. After 10 years of litigation where McDonald's spent millions of dollars, they were awarded a whopping

40,000 pounds. The defendants defended themselves, spent no money, and won the media war as McDonald's appeared to be the Goliath to their David. McDonald's won the lawsuit, but spent millions to wind up with negative PR. If they had just done nothing, hardly anyone would have seen the original flyers which were distributed, and they would have been better off. In the 1960 World Series, the New York Yankees scored 55 runs in seven games, the most ever by a team in the World Series, doubling the number of runs scored by their opponent. And they lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Because it isn't about the runs you score, it's about the games you win. These sort of hollow victories can happen in everyday life, when we go out of our way to win an argument only to destroy a friendship.

We're in a divorce where both sides try to destroy each other, leaving nothing to be split in the aftermath. The lesson of Pyrrhus is that you have to keep your eyes on the big picture. Fighting is not the same as winning, and even if you win, you can still end up losing. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Mackle. Please remember to support the show over at patreon.com, where you can get exclusive merchandise and to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Leave a five-star review to have your review read online.