The introduction situates the book in recent scholarship relating to British imperial expansion and the American Revolution and sets out the relevant cultural and historiographical frameworks. In doing so, it presents the book as an addition to recent works adopting a transatlantic focus to understand the British Empire. Arguing that British military commanders have been overlooked by imperial and revolutionary historians, this chapter introduces the central argument that commanders acted not only as instruments of government but also as important agents of empire, influencing decision making and shaping the implementation of policy on the ground. In doing so, they played a material role in the coming of the revolution.