What is a proxy war and give two examples of them during the cold war?

Proxy wars are those wars in which two countries fight one another, but there are other parties indirectly involved in the conflict perhaps by providing weapons, military advice or finance to one side. In the Cold War period, the USA and USSR did not directly fight one another but in Korea and Vietnam there were proxy wars where the two countries supported opposing sides in the conflicts. In Korea, the North was backed by the Communist countries - the USSR and China - while the south was supported by the USA.