The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most important conflicts of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union came close to starting the third world war in October, 1962. The reason was the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba InformationFor a long time, the Soviets thought that they were years a head of the US in terms of intercontinental missiles. After all, they had put 'Sputnik' into orbit, well before the …showed first 75 words of 2040 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2040 total…Soviets and the Americans, a hotline communications systems was established between the two capitals. This system was to enable faster and more direct exchange of messages in times of crisis. The next year, 1963, saw the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty being concluded between the two countries. It would not be farfetched to say that coming so close to a nuclear war during the Cuban crisis pushed the USSR and the US to conclude such a deal.