The Cold War was a major factor leading up to the U-2 Spy Plane incident. After World War II, the United States disagreed with the Soviet Union about how Europe should be put back together. This led to clashing ideas between Communism and Capitalism. "The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. (Britannica)" The U.S.S.R. wanted to keep control over Eastern Europe, and spread its ideas of communism worldwide. "The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. (Britannica)" Because of interfering plans and ideas, the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. began to fall farther away from each other. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. began to distrust each other. "The Cold War had solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid provided under the Marshall Plan to western Europe had brought those countries under American influence and the Soviets had installed openly communist regimes in eastern Europe. (Britannica)" "Germany had been divided into four occupation zones, with Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union each governing their own sectors. (ABC-CLIO)" The start of the Cold War created the
beginnings of distrust and tension between the two superpowers.
Another major factor leading up to the U-2 Spy Plane incident was the advancements in nuclear technology. The most notable was the Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb). "The hydrogen bomb, a thermonuclear device, uses the process of fusion to create a much larger explosion than is possible with the fission-based atomic bomb. (Credo)" The U.S. tested the first thermonuclear bomb. A video of this event can be found here. "The first hydrogen bomb was exploded on November 1, 1952, on the small island that formed part of Eniwetok Atoll. The island disappeared, leaving a mile-wide crater 175 feet deep. (Credo)" Less than a year later, the U.S.S.R. set off it's first thermonuclear bomb. The danger and severity of these bombs terrified the world. "News of the destructive nature of the hydrogen bomb shocked the world. People became terrified that hydrogen bombs would destroy cities and nations. (Newsbank)" The race for nuclear technology was on and no one could afford to lose. As one U.S. newspaper article declared, "A new book stated that the United States could wipe out every city in the Soviet Union with a rain of atomic bombs today. (Newsbank)" The advancements of this sort of technology created panic and tension between the two nations. "A nuclear arms race followed the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs by the Soviets, turning the cold war into an ideological conflict with the potential to devastate much of the planet. (Credo)" Fear gripped the U.S. "Anxious to avoid a surprise nuclear attack, President Eisenhower was growing increasingly nervous over rapid Soviet technological achievements. (Cold War Museum)" The spy planes were then developed.
The last major event leading up to the U-2 Spy Plane incident was the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This group was set up on April 4th, 1949. The main idea of NATO is in article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty that states, "an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. (Britannica)" Four of the main members were Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. "After World War II in 1945, western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak...and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy. (Britannica)" The nations agreed to work together to reach a common goal. In response to NATO, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact which, "provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units on the territories of the other participating states. (Britannica)" The Warsaw Pact was "composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. (Britannica)" The formation of these two organizations only added to the political tension between the superpowers.