Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union could have very easily led to World War Three and all-out nuclear war. The advent of increasingly powerful weapons with an increasingly wide range made the animosity between the two superpowers dangerous for the entire world. Both nations wanted to spread their wildly divergent economic and political doctrines worldwide, naturally leading to several tense encounters between the two countries unaccustomed to backing down. Fortunately, in each of the crises discussed above, from Berlin to Cuba, peaceful settlements were found to avoid conflict and war.