World War Three - Have we ever been closer?

My answer on Quora.

Yes on several occasions. Here are a few.

1. The Berlin Airlift saga (1949)
2. The Building of the Berlin Wall (1961)
3. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962 closest)
4. Invasion of South Korea by North Korea (several incidents in this theater since then)
5. Suez Canal Crisis (1956)
6. Norad Computer Glitch (1979)
7. B-52 Crash near Thule (1968)
8. 1995 Norwegian Rearch Rocket Incident.
9. Soviet Early Warning Error (1983) - Petrov saves the day
10. Able Archer Incident (1983)
11. Middle East False Alarm (1973)
12. Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
13. Faulty Computer Chip (1980)…zeroes displayed as 2s
14. Duluth False Alarm (1962?)
15. Moorestown False Alarm (1962)
16. U2 Spy Plane incident after Cuban Missile Crisis (Plane went off course)…situation was resolved.
17. B59 Incident (also in 1962)…Soviets almost launched.