The world does NOT need another world war. Both the US and USSR knew that, and they worked very hard to prevent a nuclear war. The closest the two nations have gotten to starting WWIII was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both countries were ready to fight (they had missiles, boats, everything was ready) but Kruschev called it off last minute, and a compromise was struck. Both nations wanted to prevent WWIII because with nuclear weapons, everything was different.