You could argue, though, that any number of proxy wars were fought during the Cold War. The inhabitants of the countries wherein such wars were fought might be less than impressed with the restraint shown by the superpowers.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

Some might argue that the stability came from the eventual commitment to retaliatory, rather than first strikes.

The first strike doctrine gave us the Cuban Missile Crisis. MAD (which is a retaliation doctrine) gave us more stability.