Brinkmanship is the practice of taking a dispute to the edge of conflict and backing down before warfare starts.
This type of political and militaristic tension was seen throughout the war during the period known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, America and the Soviet Union came extremely close to nuclear warfare before backing down.
The best example of this is the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was caused by the Soviet Union putting missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles away from the US. Before warfare started, a deal was made by President Kennedy and Premier Khruschev in order to avoid fighting.