The “Pyrrhic victory” is a well-known saying. Everyone knows what is meant by this, namely, a poisonous success achieved so costly that it brings the victor close to ruin.
But hardly anyone knows the story of King Pyrrhus. He ruled in the era after Alexander the Great. At that time, the central area of the Mediterranean was ruled by kings who relied on their military skills. Among them, King Pyrrhus was the most powerful. He left behind a book on warfare that was used by generals throughout the ancient world. Hannibal called him the greatest general the world knew – even before Alexander the Great. Pyrrhus was even related to him through a great aunt.
In 282 B.C. In the 4th century BC war broke out between Rome and the Greek city of Taranto in southern Italy. The Romans expanded their rule southwards and came into conflict with the Greeks who ruled there. The people of Taranto could not win this conflict, they called Pyrrhus for help. A year later he landed in southern Italy with a large army. He was supported by many other rulers, probably because they were happy that the hothead was busy in Italy.
His army consisted of 20,000 infantry fighting in a Macedonian phalanx, 3,000 Thessalian heavy cavalry, 2,000 archers and 500 slingers. He also brought 20 war elephants to Italy. The Romans first encountered the armor of ancient warfare.
At first the campaign went entirely to the liking of the warlike king. Like Alexander, he idolized his soldiers, cheering them on in battle and throwing himself into battle at crucial points. He won two victories against the Romans: at Heraclea in 280 and at Ausculum in 279.
An expected problem arose: Even though the Greeks won and the Romans suffered losses, many Greeks also fell. The enemy’s losses may have been greater, but they were not devastating. The Greek phalanx tactics only resulted in crushing defeats when the enemy’s line broke and his troops ran away in wild flight. The phalanx was actually not suitable for the complex enveloping maneuvers that were necessary for a battle of annihilation.
The inferiority of the otherwise powerful phalanx finally became apparent a short time later near Pydna on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. Lucius Aemilius destroyed Paullus there on June 22, 168 BC. The army of King Perseus of Macedonia was complete. Paullus maneuvered the phalanx’s cumbersome battering ram using Roman manipular tactics, which enabled complex movements of individual troops.
Pyrrhus lost in his battles his best men, the battle-hardened Epirotes – the companions from his own kingdom who unconditionally followed his cause. The Epirotes were at the center of the fighting, every dead person was irreplaceable as there was no replacement for these elite warriors in Italy. After the victory at Ausculum, Pyrrhus noticed the absence of these officers and soldiers. When the allies congratulated him on his victory, the King of the Epirotes said: “One more victory like this and we will be lost.”
So Pyrrhus left southern Italy. Then he fought alongside the Greeks in Sicily against the Cathargians. Despite brilliant victories, he was unable to drive them off the island. He returned to Greece with the rest of his troops. Only to start more wars there.
272 B.C. He fell in a street fight in Argos in 400 BC. He was about to kill a soldier when his mother threw a tile from the roof of her house at the warlike king. That’s the legend. Pyrrhus died as he had lived.
Also read:
“Dominatrix” – with poison, cleverness and strategic sex, she became the most powerful woman in Rome
Cannae – how this battle poisoned minds for 2,000 years
100,000 Trapped: Battlefield of Hannibal’s First Major Victory Discovered
