Most think it was the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis.
Not so!M/i>
Soviets had pledged to back Egypt after Israel kicked their butt, and America told Soviets, “no you won’t!”.
I remember reading an article about this years ago. Israel was about to lose the war, the entire Sinai had been overrun, they were losing to the North against Syria, and was preparing to use their nuclear weapons. It was only when the USA helped resupply Israel that they were able to counterattack and take back the entire Sinai peninsula. At that point, Israel had surrounded the Egyptian army and had moved across the Suez into Egypt proper, and Israeli forces and artillery was within 50 miles of Damascus.
At that point, the Soviets made it clear to the USA that if Israel didn't withdraw, they would openly enter the war against Israel, taking it from a proxy war between the the Israelis and the arabs, to a real shooting war between the USA and Soviets. I seem to recall seeing a photo of David Hackworth standing in front of Israeli tanks, blocking their advance in to Syria, though I may have that mixed up with another incident.
Mark
The entire Sinai was not overrun. The Egyptians advanced about 6 miles east of the canal.....exactly as they’d planned. After they moved their reserve armor to the east side, a second thrust was thwarted by the Israelis in the largest tank battle since 1943. Israel then counterattacked, crossed the canal and chewed up the Egyptian SAM batteries, then the IAF was able to go to work. Israeli tanks then encircled the Egyptian 3rd army on the west side of the canal, in Egypt. In the north, I believe the IDF got within artillery range of Damascus, about 20 miles or so....