The Corporate Wars — a term that the corporations involved have never officially accepted — lasted from 2158 to 2165 and reshaped the political geography of the Great Lakes region. This timeline presents the major events without editorial commentary, because the facts are damning enough without assistance.

2158: Sterling-Nakamura announces exclusive transit rights along the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor, directly challenging Ferrogate Transit Corporation's established routes. Ferrogate responds by deploying private security forces to physically blockade Sterling-Nakamura construction equipment. First shots fired: March 14, 2158, at what is now called the Kenosha Line.

2159: Arcturus Defense Solutions begins selling weapons to both sides, a practice they will continue for the duration of the conflict. Tessera provides communications infrastructure to Sterling-Nakamura in exchange for post-conflict technology licensing agreements. Palladian establishes field hospitals that treat wounded from all factions — and collects biometric data from every patient.

2160-2161: The conflict escalates from skirmishes to sustained military operations. Sterling-Nakamura deploys orbital kinetic strike capabilities for the first time in the Siege of Kenosha Crossing, destroying a 2-kilometer stretch of transit infrastructure and the residential areas surrounding it. Estimated civilian casualties: 4,200-6,800 (exact figures remain disputed).

2162: Zheng-Dao Heavy Industries enters the conflict on its own behalf, deploying autonomous combat platforms to secure mineral extraction sites in the Wisconsin Reach. The introduction of autonomous weapons changes the character of the war: human soldiers on both sides begin fighting machines rather than each other.

2163-2164: Attrition. No faction can achieve decisive victory. The economic cost of the war exceeds the value of the assets being contested. Corporate boards begin private negotiations while their armies continue fighting.

2165: The Meridian Accords are signed, formally ending the conflict. The Accords establish the current corponation sovereignty framework, dividing GLMZ's governance among the five major corporations. Ferrogate is absorbed into the framework as a utility rather than a sovereign entity. The estimated total death toll is 31,000-47,000, a range that reflects the impossibility of accurate counting when the dead include unregistered residents, synthetic persons, and people whose records were destroyed in the fighting.

The monument to the Corporate Wars dead, located in the Lakefront Promenade, lists 12,444 names. It is universally understood to be incomplete.