Loose the battle win the war

[Unregistered]

What is the origin of this idiom?
Thanks

[Anglika]

Lose the battle, but win the war.

It means that a battle can be fought and lost, but that in the end the war can be won = a small part of a scheme can fail, yet the whole scheme can succeed. It is a reversion of Win the battle but lose the war.

The saying seems to trace back to the Phyrric victory in 279AD