The 1956 Suez Canal Crisis caused an indirect confrontation when America's allies France, Britain, and Israel made an unsuccessful military attempt to take over the Suez Canal from the Soviet Union's ally Egypt. After the U.S.S.R. threatened to become militarily involved in the crisis, the U.S. forced its allies to concede defeat.

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis occurred after the U.S. discovered that the U.S.S.R. had secretly supplied Cuba with nuclear-armed missiles. This discovery was especially alarming because now the U.S.S.R. could militarily subdue its rival by easily launching missiles against it. After a naval blockade around Cuba and intense negotiations the U.S.S.R. was finally made to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. pledge not to overthrow Cuba's Communist regime.

References

The Cold War." (N.D) in the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2005 CD....
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