Probably that was the whole idea of Mussolini - to make the claims so absurd that they are not practical. Because he was reluctant to join the war.
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Definitely... I'm pretty sure the "criminal optimism" thing in the retry popup is referencing how Italy's generals encouraged Mussolini to aggressively exaggerate what was needed to join the war. He probably asked for more than what was even available to the Axis and Allied powers combined at the time.