What major Cold War confrontation occurred in 1962 and involved placing missiles in Cuba, bringing the world close to war?

• A. Bay of Pigs Invasion
• B. Cuban Revolution
• C. Cuban Missile Crisis
• D. U-2 Incident

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is the dangerous brinkmanship of the nuclear age and how a confrontation over missiles can push the world to the edge of war. In October 1962, the United States discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba, triggering a tense 13-day standoff. The U.S. imposed a naval quarantine and demanded their removal, while both sides prepared for potential invasion or retaliation. Through intense diplomacy, the Soviets agreed to withdraw the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba, plus a secret understanding to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. This episode, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, illustrates how close the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war and how negotiations can avert catastrophe.

The other events don’t fit because they involve different years or issues: the Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed 1961 attempt to overthrow Castro, not missiles in Cuba; the Cuban Revolution refers to the 1959 overthrow of Batista and the rise of Castro; the U-2 Incident was the 1960 shoot-down of a spy plane, not a missile crisis in 1962.