The following lists events that happened during

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Incumbents

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

– Joseph Stalin * Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets – Mikhail Kalinin *

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union was the head of government of the Soviet Union during the existence of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1946. History The post of chair of ...

– Vyacheslav Molotov

Events

March

*1–8 March – The

1931 Menshevik Trial The Menshevik Trial was one of the early purges carried out by Stalin in which 14 economists, who were former members of the Menshevik party, were put on trial and convicted for trying to re-establish their party as the "Union Bureau of the Menshe ...

is held.

April

*27 April –

1931 Zangezur earthquake The 1931 Zangezur earthquake occurred on April 27 at with a moment magnitude of 6.5. The earthquake was located in the Zangezur Mountains near the boundary between southwestern Armenia and Azerbaijan's exclave, the Nakhichivan Autonomous Republi ...

Births

*1 January – Anatoli Ivanovich Bogdanov, Olympic shooter (died

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

) *17 January – Yury Rudov, Olympic fencer (died

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

) *21 January –

Tatjana Michaylovna Zacharova Tatjana Michaylovna Zacharova (russian: Татьяна Михайловна Захарова; born 21 January 1931) is a Russian production worker, author of prose and politician who worked for 33 years at the workshop of the Laminated Plastics Pl ...

, production worker, author and politician *22 January –

Galina Zybina Galina Ivanovna Zybina (russian: Гали́на Ива́новна Зы́бина, born 22 January 1931) is a retired Soviet and Russian athlete and coach. She competed in the shot put at the 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and finished in fir ...

, Olympic athlete *1 February – Boris Yeltsin, first President of Russia (died

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

) *2 March –

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

, last leader of the Soviet Union (died

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

) *13 March – Alisa Aksyonova, museum director *23 March –

Yevdokiya Mekshilo Yevdokiya Panteleyevna Mekshilo (russian: Евдокия Пантелеевна Мекшило) (23 March 1931 – 16 January 2013) was a female Soviet cross-country skier who competed in the 1960s for Armed Forces sports society. At the 196 ...

, Olympic skier *29 March –

Aleksei Gubarev Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev (russian: Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович Гу́барев; 29 March 1931 – 21 February 2015) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on two space flights: Soyuz 17 and Soyuz 28. Biography Gubarev grad ...

, cosmonaut *27 April – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist *25 May –

Georgy Grechko Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko (russian: Георгий Михайлович Гречко; 25 May 1931 – 8 April 2017) was a Soviet cosmonaut. He flew to space on three missions, each bound for rendezvous with a different Salyut space station.

, cosmonaut *25 June – Anatoli Georgievich Vitushkin, mathematician *27 June – Anatoli Ilyin, footballer *24 September – Mark Midler, Olympic fencer *28 September –

Emma Yefimova Emma Yefimova (russian: Эмма Корнеевна Ефимова; 28 September 1931 – 12 July 2004) was a Soviet fencer. She competed in the women's individual foil event at the 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, offic ...

, Olympic fencer *1 November – Dmitri Bashkirov, pianist (died

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

) *21 November – Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian physicist (died

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

)

Deaths

*23 January – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina, died in The Hague (born 1881) *15 August – Nigar Shikhlinskaya, first

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

nurse (born 1871 or 1878)

References

{{Year in Asia, 1931 1930s in the Soviet Union Years in the Soviet Union Soviet Union Soviet Union Soviet Union