I agree with Cryptic that there would have probably been multiple peace treaties. The location choice, by the German Empire, of where each treaty would be signed would depend on two conditions: (1 ) Whether the other power had been virtually defeated or had been essentially untouched by the German armies. And (2 ) what future relations the German Empire wanted with each power in Germany’s long-term interests.
Symbolism would undoubtedly be a factor in how Germany chose, and conducted, her location choices as their previous history shows. In 1871, in ending the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans required France to pay an indemnity that was equivalent to the indemnity Napoleon imposed on Prussia in 1807.
In 1914, the Germans defeated the Russian armies in East Prussia at what was actually Allenstein. But instead of calling it the Battle of Allenstein, the Germans harkened back to 1410 and christened it the Second
Battle of Tannenberg as Wikipedia explains :
So, with these two conditions and symbolism in mind, here are my suggestions for the German Empire’s location choices.
(1 ) ITALY. Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary for over 32 years. But Italy abandoned this alliance and declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1915 and on Germany in 1916. The Teutonic Duo delivered a devastating defeat to the Italians in October to November 1917 in the Battle of Caporetto. Both powers held Italy in a special disdain and considered her a back-stabbing traitor.
Austria-Hungary could end her war with Italy by signing the “Treaty of Karfreit”, after an Austrian town whose Italian name was … Caporetto. And then making sure it would be widely known as the “Treaty of Caporetto”.
Germany’s choice of where the Italians would sign to end their war would be in Detmold, the capital of the German principality of Lippe which was considered the site of a famous battle in ancient history. The “Treaty of Teutoburg Forest” would memorialize anew the Roman defeat in 9 AD by the German tribes, almost 2,000 years later. Break out the wagons-lits a la OTL Compiègne.
( 2) RUSSIA. Russia lost the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and would sign the “Treaty of Tannenberg” to end her war with Germany.
Austria-Hungary would have the Russians travel to Moravia to sign the “Treaty of Buchlau” at Buchlau Castle, the site of an earlier 1908
Austrian-Russian agreement that turned out very badly for Russia , which had involved a great loss of face for Russia.
The Ottoman Empire would have the Russian delegates journey to Constantinople to sign their peace treaty to unmistakenly underline the fact that Russia would never acquire Constantinople nor gain control of the Straits. The treaty, however, would be signed in a small village west of Constantinople called San Stefano. This
“Treaty of San Stefano” would totally wipe out the memory of an earlier, temporary, also named “Treaty of San Stefano” which a victorious Russia had forced the Ottoman Empire to sign in 1878.
(3 ) FRANCE and (4) GREAT BRITAIN. The Germans would choose Belgium as the site and the name the “Treaty of Waterloo” for several reasons in order to make propaganda and good public relations.
Germany would stress that holding the peace treaty negotiations in Belgium would help to stimulate the war-torn Belgian economy to recover by servicing the various delegations. The world would also see that Belgium was once again a free nation not at the beck and call of the Germans.
Waterloo had been the 1815 site of a previous French defeat. Simultaneously, Waterloo was the site of a great British victory. And, most importantly from Germany’s viewpoint, the British and the Prussians had fought as allies, on the same side, against France in winning at Waterloo in 1815, something that the Germans would want the British to recall.
The Germans would almost do a repeat of the fairly gentle 1866
“Peace of Prague” which ended the war between the Prussians and the Austrians and enabled them to become friends and allies a few years later.
The French, on the other hand, would suffer a similar fate to the 1866 German allies of Austria. In that 1866 war there were annexations and cessions of territory mixed with some leniency for the Austrian allies of Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Hesse-Kassel and a few other smaller German states.
(5 ) UNITED STATES. Even more than with Great Britain, the Germans would want a good relationship with the United States to be quickly restored. The Germans would suggest that the negotiations take place in Princeton, New Jersey, more specifically Princeton University where American President Woodrow Wilson had been a recent president of the university.
By doing this, the Germans would be flattering and appealing to Wilson’s well-known vanity to be a world peacemaker. The terms of a German-American peace treaty would be secondary and not really important in view of Germany’s long-term interests. I don’t think President Wilson could resist this call to step onto History’s stage and would heed
Clio’s call.
( 6) JAPAN. The Germans, in what would be a real stroke of diplomacy which would kill many birds with only one stone, could also ask President Wilson to become the mediator for ending their war with Japan. They could even suggest the location of Portsmouth, New Hampshire where a previous American President, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, had chaperoned an end to the Russo-Japanese War in the 1905
“Treaty of Portsmouth” which won Roosevelt the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.
Not only did Roosevelt and Wilson hate each other, Wilson was also very suspicious of Japan’s growing strength in Asia and in the Pacific. During the war, Japan had grabbed the German possessions of Kiautschou(AKA Kiaochou AKA Tsingtao AKA Qingdao) in China and the Pacific islands of the Marshalls, the Marianas and the Carolines.
If anyone could get their territories back for Germany, it would be President Wilson, whose country was the nominal American ally of Japan, and who would undoubtedly jump at the chance to win a Nobel Peace Prize like his great rival President Roosevelt.
It really wouldn’t matter to the Germans, since these colonies had been a money drain, but it had the great potential to cause quarrels between Wilson and the Japanese while simultaneously endearing the Germans to Wilson by letting him strut on the world stage as a peacemaker.
