A victory that is so costly in terms of men and resources that it seems no different from losing. It comes from King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who was fighting against the Romans in the Pyrrhic Wars (c.280BCE). Pyrrhus is supposed to have said 'If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined' (Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, 21:8).
Pyrrhic victory
Fact of the Day
The Plantagenet kings had a habit of exclaiming by God's body parts. Favourite among them were 'God's eyes' and 'God's legs'.
Quote of the Day
"Who has appointed the Germans the judges of nations?
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~ John of Salisbury
On This Day
870 Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald (grandsons of Charlemagne) divided Middle Francia between them, following the death of their nephew Lothair II, at the Treaty of Meerssen. It split Charlemagne's old kingdom into two parts that would eventually become France and Germany.
1503 James IV's marriage to Henry Tudor's daughter, Margaret Tudor, was confirmed at Holyrood Abbey. Their union would eventually lead to the placement of James VI on the English throne as James I.
1523 Jean Vallière became the first 'Protestant' to be burnt in France. However, as he believed Joseph, rather than God, to be Jesus' father, he would also have been considered a heretic by Luther.
1570 Catholic martyr John Fenton was hanged, drawn and quartered for advertising the papal bull that excommunicated Elizabeth I and exhorted good English Catholics to disobey her.
1827 Tory prime minister George Canning died suddenly of pneumonia just five months after taking office. He still holds the record for the shortest-serving prime minister.
1899 The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Albert T. Marshall of Massachusetts for his household refrigeration device.
1918 The Battles of Amiens started the final phase of the Allied First World War offensive known as the Hundred Days. The Allies advanced over seven miles on the first day in what General Ludendorff described as 'the black day of the German army'.
1942 Controversially, six German saboteurs, who had previously lived in the USA, were electrocuted in Washington DC. They had been tried by a military tribunal that went against American legal precedent, and as such set another precedent that has since been used to justify other legally-questionable activities, such as the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
1963 Fifteen robbers stole £2.6 million (£50 million today) from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London in what became known as the 'Great Train Robbery'.