it is one in which the side that won the victory suffers very badly. a pyrrhic victory may take place when the victorious army has lost a huge number of men or when the enemy army has reinforcements about to arrive which greatly outnumber the winning army and mean that the chances of a second victory are very low. a pyrrhic victory is named after king pyrrhus of epirus. he won a battle against the romans in 280 bc but many of his men and most of his friends and top commanders died in the battle.