5 Most Costly Pyrrhic Victories In History

A detailed look at 5 pyrrhic victories where the price of success was simply too high.

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[robnixon]

Poor old Pyrrhus. Gets the type of battle named after him but he still doesn’t come out on top in this list!

[spellchanger]

I love the pictures chosen, one of my fave channels, the narrator is 10/10.

[allynflinchbaugh]

"Destroying an Empire to win a war is no victory. And ending a battle to save an Empire is no defeat." - Kahless

[johnmcmanus]

British went full Skaven

"Waste their ammo on the front lines! Then we can attack with whatever is left."

[YungBoiEscobar]

We've been waiting years on an upload. It was worth it

[KowboyUSA]

Poor Napoleon. He had the world in his hand. Now he just sells jars of olives.

[jackwright]

Hope unknown5 knows how much we appreciate the well-crafted videos. I especially appreciate the visuals that accompany the dialogue. Many videos like his (much shorter) will just use somewhat related pictures to fill screen time, but unknown5’s are always directly related to what he’s talking about. Keep up the great work!

[machiavelllli]

These videos are the definition of quality over quantity

[interestingwiki]

Welcome to the coment section, where everybody is a war general and a historian

[cheriefsadeksadek]

When a journalist Asked Napoleon why he didn't suicide after the loss of the battle of waterloo, Napoleon replied the real question is why i didn't suicide after the battle of borodino ?
Marshall Ney said that he had. Never seen such carnage

[benwallis]

Love this channel, glad it's still uploading.

[juliovictormanuelschaeffer]

Phyrrhus: the man who gave these victories their name.

[whenthemusicsover]

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the fantastic and awesome artwork used throughout the video? :)

[McCoy-]

Now anyday’s a good day when Unknown5 uploads

[john-b]

Small point - St Petersburg was the capital of Russia in Nepolianic times, not Moscow.

[aidanwow]

2 things that weren't mentioned about Napoleon's downfall:
1. The Russian Cossacks constantly destroyed and looted Napoleon's supply lines, leaving his army without provisions from his territory. Because of the scorched earth tactics, Napoleon also couldn't live off of the land.
2. The summer Napoleon decided to invade in was abnormally hot. In the summer, Russia becomes a land of bogs and marshes, perfect conditions for disease to spread if warm. Napoleon's army lost a majority of its fighting capability due to disease; the winter just finished them off later on. The winter is more famous because of the fact that Napoleon basically abandoned his camp followers who were not as affected by the disease or battles. Also, Hitler's invasion accentuated Napoleon's failed invasion.

[celtbhoy]

When i see an Unknown5 upload it's probably the closest i'll ever get to feeling like a kid at Christmas again. Seriously though this channel deserves a million subs it would have it already if uploads were more regular but the rarity of the uploads and long length of the videos is what makes this channel so great too i guess. This channel and epichistorytv go above and beyond in terms of quality. The fact they're both free feels like a crime in comparison to the garbage on TV's today that does cost money.

[daviddavenport]

I wonder if Chancellorsville would count! Lee's greatest victory, but, he lost a horrible amount of men in his understrength attacks, plus Stonewall Jackson..I have also heard that Lee himself suffered a minor stroke as the battle was much more closely fought than is given that led to a certain indecisiveness at Gettysburg.

[thelikebutton]

I’ve been waiting for an upload this made my day

[TheRougeSky]

One of the most fascinating (at least in my opinion) aspects of military history is all the "what ifs" that you can find. Some times a simple flanking maneuver from 1 side could have made a battle go totally favorable for them instead of it being a disaster, other times its making a split second choice in tactics on the fly which turns what was going to be a defeat into an unexpected victory.Of course then there is all the potential alternate histories that can spring forth when one envisions a battle play out differently then it did historically.
It mind blowing to think that at some point in history someone simply saying "march right" ended up setting a chain of events in motion that helped form the world we know today.