Beware, some victories are actually defeats in disguise

Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan was inaugurated as president on November 3, 2025, state TV showed, with an internet blackout still holding after election protests in which the opposition says hundreds were killed by security forces.[AFP]

Anyone who tells you that history and mythology are useless is lying. To understand what is happening in our politics today, we need to look back at history and mythology and listen to their lessons. History shows us that not every victory is worth celebrating. Some wins are too costly, morally, socially, and politically. Some victories become defeats in disguise, leaving behind damaged individuals, institutions and a society that has to pick up the pieces long after the applause ends.

The Greeks gave us a name for such hollow triumphs: the Pyrrhic victory. The term comes from King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who in 279 BCE defeated the Romans at the Battle of Asculum. Although he claimed victory over the Roman legions, his army was shattered beyond repair. Surveying the broken bodies of his finest soldiers, he declared, “Another such victory and we are undone.” The tragedy was clear. He had won the battle but lost his future. Since then, a Pyrrhic victory describes a win that leaves the victor so weakened that the success becomes meaningless.