Abstract: The analysis of global structure of the Einstein equations for general relativity, in the context of the initial value problem, is a difficult and intricate mathematical subject. Any additional structure in their formulation is welcome, in order to alleviate the problem.  It is expected that the initial value problem of the Einstein equations on spacetimes admitting a translational, fixed-point free, spatial U(1) isometry group are globally well-posed. In our previous works, we discussed the special structure provided by the dimensional reduction of 3+1 dimensional U(1) symmetric Einstein equations to 2+1 Einstein-wave map system and demonstrated global existence in the equivariant case for large data.  In this talk, after discussing some preliminaries and background, we shall discuss about yet another structure of the U(1) symmetric Einstein equations, namely the analogy with Yang-Mills theory via the Cartan formalism and reconcile with the dimensionally reduced field equations. We shall also discuss implications for ‘breakdown’ criteria of U(1) symmetric Einstein equations.