America vs Korea and Cuba
In the Cold War, the United States was the major advocate for the Capitalist side, and usually led attacks and operations to oppose communist aggression. Two of the largest operations occurred in South Korea and Cuba. The experiences and outcomes of these operations determined the fate of the war.
Korea
After World War II, Korea was divided into two zones across the 38th parallel. In the north, a communist regime was established, while in the south an anti-communist government existed. When the USSR gave North Korean troops permission to cross the 38th parallel and invade South Korea, South Korea went to the UN for assistance. Assisting all the anti-communist countries they could, the United States agreed to send troops to South Korea to fend off communist forces and restore peace.
At first, American forces were unprepared, and they were pushed back to the port of Pusan at the south east corner of the country. Overnight, the war changed when Douglas MacArthur ordered an attack on the port of Inchon near Seoul. This helped the US quickly regain some control and cut off North Korean supplies. Becoming inspired by the success, MacArthur decided to continue pushing forward into North Korea all the way to the Yalu River, the border between Korea and China. This angered the Chinese, and caused them to launch a counter attack on the UN. This ended up pushing the US and South Kore right back to where they started, under the 38th parallel.
Who was Victorious?
Every force in this contest had their own victories and defeats. The power between the communist and anti communist sides switched back and forth, and eventually went right back to where it started. Therefore, there were technically no victors of this war, but peace was restored.
Cuba
In the early and mid 1950s, Cuba was controlled by a military regime that was run by Batista and was friendly to the US. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power by mobilizing the country's peasants to topple Batista's reign. In his thirst for more power and expansion, Castro sought economic and military aid from the Soviet Union. In an attempt to destroy this communist government so close to US borders, John F. Kennedy launched the Bay of Pigs invasion. He used US trained Cubans in the CIA to attack Cuba from the Bay of Pigs and hopefully start an uprising. However, the local population favored Castro and communism, so the invasion was not only a failure, but an embarrassment and a weakening of the US in Soviet eyes.
In fear of another attack from the US, Fidel Castro called for additional assistance from the USSR. Nikita Khrushchev responded by sending missiles and bombers to Cuba to defend Castro and threaten the US. When Kennedy discovered this in 1962, he threatened the Soviet Union that if they didn't remove the bombs from Cuba, he would order air strikes or an invasion of Russia. Later that year, Khrushchev agreed to remove the bombs, and the Cuban Missile Crisis had been averted.
Who was Victorious?
The war between the United States and Soviet Union over Cuba ended in a decisive US victory.