In the years of 1797 and 1798, the United States got into a diplomatic incident that was between France. The XYZ affair led to the undeclared Quasi-War. The attempt was to avert war with Great Britain. The XYZ affair started because France allowed an order for the seizure of American merchant ships in the year 1796. The XYZ affair was a very unsuccessful diplomatic incident and this contributes to the hostilities between both the United States of America and France.